Between The Drinks And Subtle Things
by LifeOnTheMoon
Summary: Albus Potter, Rose Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy, Lorcan Scamander and Daemon Zabini make up the Wolf Pack, Hogwarts's most talented and out of control students. So what on earth is Ariana Longbottom doing getting mixed up with them? And much to Scorpius's surprise Lily Potter is actually a girl. And an extremely attractive one at that. Can he keep his hands off his friend's sister?
1. Chapter 1

I knew I wasn't in my own bed even before I opened my eyes. My bed is my safe place and I can tell when I'm not in it. And the fact that someone's arm was draped around me might have been a red flag. I slowly turned and saw the messy hair and the slightly crooked nose of Albus Severus Potter. Ah fuck. Lily was going to kill me. I moved to get up and then I realized something, no pants. Oh this just keeps getting better and better. Albus opened one eye. 'Go back to sleep,' he said, grumpily.

'Are you kidding me? What the fuck am I doing in your bed Albus?'

Realising that sleep was no longer an option he groaned. 'We didn't have sex, so don't get your knickers in a twist.'

'Then where the fuck are my pants?'

So I usually don't swear this much especially not this early in the morning. But I felt a little out of my comfort zone right now.

'You said you were feeling hot and you sort of climbed in,' he explained trying not to laugh.

'And you didn't try to get me out?' I asked genuinely surprised.

'Well to be honest I was pretty far gone myself. I don't remember why but for some reason it made sense for you to stay here.'

'ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO THE HOUSE?' I heard someone shout from downstairs. Oh my Merlin. Please no.

The door flew open and my best friend stood there glaring angrily.

'I literally left you alone for one day. One. And I come back to find the living room full of semi-comatose people and empty bottles. Mum and Dad are going to flip. You do know they'll never leave us alone again. Ever. And since you're an idiot I bet you forgot that they're coming back today. I don't know how you're going to get all this crap cleaned up. I am certainly not helping you,' she paused to take a breath and finally noticed me. 'Albus tell me you didn't-' she started.

'I swear I didn't,' he said quickly cutting her off.

'Then why the hell is Ariana, my best friend Ariana in your bed? You can never keep it your pants can you? You are the most insufferable, annoying-'

'Um Lils,' I said, trying to stop her little rant. 'Could you do me a massive favour?'

She crossed her arms. 'Honestly Ria I think I'm doing you a favour by not killing you right now, but I suppose-'

'Thank you thank you thank you Lils.'

She just smiled. She could never stay mad at me for long.

'Could you get me some pants?'

Her smile dropped. 'I thought you said you didn't do anything? Why the hell don't you have pants?'

I was just asking myself the same question,' I muttered.

'Ugh fine,' she said.

I would explain it all to her later. After I actually figured out what had happened. I looked at Al awkwardly. He grinned back at me. I realized that even though I had just woken up in my best friend's brother's bed I didn't feel that uncomfortable. Well that's just Albus I suppose. He has this innate knack of putting everyone at ease no matter what the situation.

So I suppose I should give you a little background information. I'm Ariana Longbottom. I'm in my seventh year at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry. Yesterday my friend Arya Thomas decided that I couldn't spend the whole summer closeted with my books and dragged me to this stupid party.

'WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?' I heard Lily shout.

I groaned massaging my head. I felt like someone had hit a bludger at it.

Lily walked in seconds later dragging a slightly embarrassed looking Scorpius Malfoy behind her wrapped in nothing but her bright blue bed sheet. I saw Anjali Corner and Danielle Finnigan quickly walking past the door. I hid myself under the sheets hoping desperately they hadn't seen me.

'He was in my bed with two naked girls. Why the hell can't you control him Albus?' she said.

'Oi I'm his friend not his keeper,' Albus said indignantly.

'Sorry,' Scorpius said, not looking sorry at all.

Lily just snorted. 'Thanks to you I now have to burn my bed.'

'Erm Lils…can you please get me pants?' I asked quietly not wanting to upset her more.

'Oh yeah.' She hurried out of the room leaving Albus, me and a half naked Scorpius.

'So you and Longbottom huh? Did not see that one coming,' he said, smirking.

'I cannot believe you had a threesome in my sister's bed,' Albus said, half annoyed half impressed.

Scorpius just shrugged. Scorpius Malfoy was an enigma. I just did not get him. This was actually the most ruffled I had ever seen him. And honestly someone who had been caught in bed with two girls should have been a little more embarrassed. I could already see the cold indifference settling around his features. To be honest Scorpius Malfoy was just gorgeous. His high cheekbones and pointed chin made him look severe yet incredibly attractive. He was like an ice sculpture, perfectly proportioned, but as cold as death.

'Hello boys,' Rose said walking into the bedroom. I grimaced unconsciously. If Scorpius was ice Rose was fire. With her wild red hair and deep blue eyes she was an absolute knockout and boy did she know that. She oozed sex appeal. And she was brilliant. That's actually the only way to describe her. She got the best grades and was a shoe in for Head Girl. I also couldn't stand her. She made me want to rip my face off.

She kissed Scorpius's cheek and went to sit on the edge of Al's bed.

'I see you're doing charity work,' she said, smirking at me.

I bristled.

'Lay off Rose,' Al said lazily. We were both still under the covers.

'Oh hello Rosie,' Lily said walking into the room armed with a pair of pants. 'Love the dress, where did you get? Whores R Us?' She threw me the pants while glaring at her cousin. I quickly slipped them on.

'Oh no Lily dearest it's just that I have a life and own clothes that end above my ankles.'

Lily really doesn't like Rose. Lily didn't like any of her brother's friends. If Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were the Golden Trio, their kids along with Scorpius Malfoy, Daemon Zabini and Lorcan Scamander were the Wolf Pack. They basically ran the school so being caught in bed with one of them was not something I had ever thought would happen. I don't drink or sleep around or do anything that could get me into trouble. So what on earth was I doing here?

'Okay spill,' Lily said when we got to her room.

'I actually have no idea what happened. I just drank way too much last night,' I groaned holding my head in my hands.

'But you didn't sleep with my brother right?' she asked.

'As far as I can tell, no. But since I don't remember anything…' I trailed off.

She sighed. 'I love Al, I really do. But I am telling you it's a very bad idea to get mixed up with him. He's not a relationship sort of person. I mean he isn't the man-whore Scorpius is but he isn't very reliable.'

'Lils you do not need to be worried about me getting involved with Albus. If anything did happen it was just a drunken mistake. You really don't have to worry,' I said emphatically. Now that I think about it, it's rather sad how terribly wrong I was.

**a/n: So I've never actually written anything except Lily/Scorpius fanfiction. So I don't know how good this is going to be but please tell me what you think. **


	2. Chapter 2

ARIANA

So I should probably tell you a little bit about myself. As I told you before I am Ariana Longbottom. My best friend is Lily Potter despite the fact that she is two years younger than me. I grew up with the Potter/Weasley family but once we got to Hogwarts we sort of grew apart. I got put into Ravenclaw and became friends with a nice group of people who had similar interests while they got put into Gryffindor and proceeded to shock the entire Wizarding world with their antics.

Rose and Albus, despite all the warnings Uncle Ron gave them, became friends with Scorpius Malfoy and Daemon Zabini. Then the ridiculously intelligent Lorcan Scamander joined their little group and the Wolf Pack was ready to face the world. They were in the papers by the time they were fourteen and when they got to sixth year they were practically legends. This is slightly ironic especially for Rose, Al and Lorcan since their parents were legends for pretty much the opposite reason. They were famous for being brave, selfless and caring while their children were famous for being spontaneous, daring and not giving a flying fuck about anyone else.

They cared about each other though, which even though they did annoy me a little, was kind of admirable. No one dared bother Scorpius and Zabini about their families lest Albus and Lorcan rain hell down on them. And anyone who called Rose a whore would soon find himself short of a couple of limbs.

The number of times there had been pictures of Rose passed out being carried out of a bar by one of the boys in the Prophet or Witch Weekly was ridiculous. They were people of extremes. They just didn't know when to stop. They were also all really smart. They only reason I did well in school was because I worked my ass off so it was rather frustrating to have them take a test with hangovers and still get more than me. They were all very different people but were still tied together by this inexplicable bond.

So let me start with the boy whose bed I was in today morning. Albus Severus Potter was easygoing and indolent. Everything about him was lazy. It always surprised me that he was able to keep up with his friends. I mean he was always so relaxed. Nothing ever seemed to bother him. The pace at which the rest of them lived their lives always threw me and I thought it odd that it didn't upset him in the least. Out of the lot he was definitely my favourite though. He was never rude or nasty just for the sake of it. He always put people at ease. I suppose that's why every girl at Hogwarts threw themselves at him. That and his dad was Harry Potter. He was basically a carbon copy of his dad looks wise.

And now we come to Rose Katherine Weasley. Rose was a bitch. She spewed venom. I really don't get how the Sorting Hat put her in Gryffindor; Slytherin would have made so much more sense. Even though I really really don't like her I must admit that she isn't fake. She's a bitch and she doesn't try to hide it. She treats everyone disdainfully and doesn't discriminate. Well everybody except the rest of the Wolf Pack.

Then there was the brilliant Lorcan Scamander. He was actually in my house and our parents were really close friends so I knew him pretty well. I still found him really annoying. He was tall with yellowy hair that stuck out at odd angles. This somehow added to his attractiveness though. He had large hipsterish glasses that made his silvery gaze less intense.

Daemon Zabini's possibly the best looking of the lot, and believe me that is saying something since they're all unbelievably attractive. He has flawless dark skin that doesn't look like it has ever seen a zit. His cheekbones are high like Scorpius's but his face isn't as sharp. He's about six feet tall and very intimidating.

And finally Scorpius Malfoy. Malfoy is the very epitome of a Slytherin. He's sarcastic, cutting and as I said before as cold as ice.

Anyway enough about the Wolf Pack. Let's get to my friends. Lily Potter is one of the people I am closest to. She's two years younger than me but is still about three inches taller. She's got one of the most perfect bodies I've seen and even though Rose is supposed to be the renowned beauty of the family, I think Lily is way prettier. Rose is incredibly hot but Lily is actually beautiful. She's also a very nice person and you can see it on her face and in her body language. While Rose, as I said before is a bitch and that shows. What's funny is that Rose's parent are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Her dad's funny and her mum's incredibly smart. I don't know how they managed to produce something like Rose. Okay so now I'm getting a little sidetracked by her. It's just that she annoys me so very much.

Anyway. So my friend who dragged me to that godforsaken party is Arya Thomas. She's a whole load of fun and absolutely hilarious. She has caramel coloured skin and green eyes. Her hair is as black as midnight and falls down her back in gentle waves. Every boy in school wants to get into her pants but she has no time for them at all. She's very focused on Quidditch. She wants to become a professional player and has the talent to do it. I sometimes wish I had her drive and her passion about something. I just feel like I'm floating sometimes.

ALBUS

'Longbottom?' Really Allie?' Rose asked snarkily.

'Shut up. And we didn't actually do anything,' I said.

'Yeah right,' Scor said sarcastically.

'Well at least there was just one girl in my bed. My sister is actually going to kill you.'

'What? You had a threesome last night and you didn't invite me? Oh what is this world coming to?' Rose joked.

Rose might act like a complete whore but she's actually not. At all. To her boys are like toys, they exist to be manipulated and played with. The only ones she can't mess with are Scor, Daemon and Lorcan. She can be a right bitch sometimes but she's still my best friend. The five of us together are the Wolf Pack. At least that's what the tabloids've named us. That old bat Rita Skeeter still follows us around, though she must be at least fifty. She gave Dad and Aunt Hermione a fair bit of grief when they were in school so I suppose she feels it's her duty to continue harassing their children. I mean at one point she said that Scorpius and I were in a gay relationship. His parents flipped out and ordered him to never see me again. My parents didn't give a shit. That was one of the less worrying things that the papers wrote about me. The paparazzi follow us everywhere but they really love Rose. Or hate her, depending on how you see it. Poor Aunt Hermione gets panic attacks every time the Prophet lands on her table. Uncle Ron gets angry and fumes for a bit. Rose just laughs it off. Her parents have absolutely no idea what to do with her, so they've basically pinned all their hopes and dreams on Hugo who's buckling under the pressure. And what's funny is that Rose is way smarter than Hugo and is also a lot gutsier. I think that if she had lived during the War she would've made an excellent Order Of The Phoenix member. She needs the rush that accompanies adventure and since she doesn't find it anywhere she tries to amuse herself by playing complicated mind games with her conquests.

Anyway coming back to the story. 'Okay, so my parents are going to be back in…' I looked at my watch a seventeenth birthday present from Dad. '…exactly forty minutes. And I need to get everyone out and clean the house.'

Rose and Scorpius immediately went into damage control mode. We knew the drill. Scorpius went find his clothes and Rose went downstairs to get Daemon and Lorcan. I quickly pulled on a t-shirt and followed Rose down to the landing. Ah fuck. It looked like a hurricane had hit. There were bottles and disposable cups everywhere and hungover people with their heads in their hands.

'Okay everybody out,' Rose said briskly. She had already gotten a fire started and in ten minutes everyone was out of the house. Well everyone except Scor, Daemon Lorcan and her. Gotta love Floo Powder. Thankfully we were all over-age so we managed to collect all the rubbish. Unfortunately we were all pretty bad at household spells so it took us about twenty minutes to clean the house up. We all lay on the sofa exhausted, nursing our pounding heads. About five minutes before my parents were due to arrive Ariana came downstairs. Oh shite I had forgotten she was still here.

'Where is everyone?' she asked.

'Home,' Daemon grunted.

'You're welcome to use the fireplace,' Rose said pointedly. I looked at her in surprise. I knew Rose wasn't very nice but she seemed to dislike the Ria a rather lot.

'It was great to have you,' I said smiling at her.

Ria just nodded noncommittally, threw Floo Powder into the fire and left.

'Who invited her anyway?' Rose asked after she had left.

'I did,' Lorcan said, blushing a little. 'I knew the only way Arya would come was if I invited her too.'

'She's nice enough,' I said carefully.

'Well obviously you think she's nice,' Rose said sneering. 'She spread her legs for you just like all the other girls at school.'

'We didn't have sex,' I said loudly.

'Well I'm glad to hear that,' a voice said from behind me.

'Hi Dad,' I said, giving him a hug.

'Now whom didn't you have sex with?' he asked grinning.

'Oh the delectable Miss Longbottom of course,' Rose said mockingly.

'Rose, shut up,' I said annoyed.

Dad sighed, 'You know I give you and your sister a lot of freedom, but you have to draw a line somewhere-'

'Nothing happened Dad,' I said. 'And besides Ria's not like that.'

'I know,' he said, but he still looked a little worried.

I was going to kill Rose.

**a/n: So this isn't going to be like my usual stories with just two POV characters. But it is going to be mostly Ariana and Albus. Please review, I'd love to know what you think. And if you see any mistakes or any grammatical errors please point them out. Tell me what you think of the Wolf Pack. This Rose is very different from the one I usually write so I'd like to know your thoughts on her. I also usually just write Scorpius/Lily stories so I don't know how this one will turn out. Well we can just wait and watch I guess. Anyway thanks for reading my story and I hope you enjoy it :) **


	3. Chapter 3

ARIANA

I got back to The Leaky Cauldron by about ten. There were already a couple of people sitting at the tables.

'Hello darling,' my mum called from behind the bar. ' Did you have fun at Arya's?'

I winced a little. She came up to me looking worried. 'Are you okay?' she asked.

'Yeah I just have a bit of a headache. I'll be fine after a couple of hours of sleep.' I said.

'Here have this,' she said, pulling something out from under the bar.

I took a sip. It tasted vile but my head cleared up immediately.

'Thanks. What was that?' I asked.

'A hangover cure. I may be old but I am definitely not stupid. I run a pub, I can tell when someone's been drinking,' she said smiling at my discomfort.

'Sorry Mum,' I mumbled, very embarrassed.

'It's okay, you're over-age. And you need to have a bit of fun. I'd just rather you'd let me know before you went to a party.'

I nodded at her. She pulled me into a hug and told me to go upstairs to get some sleep.

'Oh I forgot,' she said, just when I was walking up the stairs. 'Your Hogwarts letter came. It's on your dressing table. We'll go shopping tomorrow.'

That's one good thing about living in Diagon Alley, easy access to shops. I got upstairs and ripped open my letter. A shiny badge with Head Girl on it fell out. I stared at it for about ten minutes; not believing it was real.

'Mum!' I shouted. 'Mum, come up here!'

'What is it Ria?' she asked when she got upstairs. She looked at me worriedly. I just held up the badge. She let out a shriek. She gave me a bone-crushing hug.

'You got Head Girl,' she said grinning broadly. 'I'm so proud of you baby.'

'Why didn't dad tell me?' I asked surprised.

'Oh he probably didn't know. It's mostly the headmistresses decision and I think she only asks the your head of house if you would be suitable,' she explained.

'Oh,' I said, my brain barely processing the information.

Dad came home about half an hour later. He's the Herbology professor at Hogwarts but he helps the Auror department when he has time. Especially when dealing with unknown poisons.

'I got Head Girl Dad,' I said.

'That's incredible sweetheart,' he said hugging me. 'I had my suspicions but I didn't want to get your hopes up.'

'But I though Rose…'

Dad snorted. 'Rose is a very bright girl but only an idiot would give someone the irresponsible a position of authority. You earned this badge Ria.'

'But…'

'You want to be Head Girl don't you?' he asked, worried.

'Yes, but what if I'm rubbish and I can't get anyone to listen to me?' I asked.

'You'll be great,' Dad said, comfortingly.

ALBUS

We were all still lying on the couch when the owls arrived. Six large school owls bearing letters flew in through the window, landed in front of us a stuck their feet out, looking at us expectantly. We all retrieved our letters. Rose shook her envelope but nothing except a piece of paper fell out.

'I didn't get it,' she said subdued.

'Don't worry Rosie,' I said comfortingly, 'now you can have fun with the rest of us.'

'Maybe not all of us,' Scorpius said awkwardly, holding up a badge.

'You got Head Boy?' Lorcan asked his eyebrows disappearing into his hair.

'Looks like it,' Scor said looking at his badge, puzzled.

None of us really knew how to react. We had all thought Rose would get Head Girl. Not because she was particularly responsible or anything but because she wanted it and what Rose wanted she usually got. Scorpius was actually the last person we had thought would get Head Boy. It's not like he wasn't smart or anything, he just didn't care.

Mum walked in while Scorpius stared at his badge in amazement.

'Congratulations Scor,' she said hugging him.

Lily ran down. 'I got it Mum,' she said excitedly brandishing a prefect's badge.

Rose's face hardened. 'Well I'd better be going,' she said.

'Give my love to your parents,' Mum called as she stepped into the fire.

'Will do,' she replied and disappeared.

I opened my letter and to my surprise a badge fell out.

'I got one too Mum,' I said smiling.

'Quidditch Captain?' she asked.

I nodded in assent.

'That's brilliant!' she said excitedly. 'Harry, come down quick!'

'Coming coming,' Dad said, rushing down the stairs. 'Now what's going on?'

'Lily got Prefect, Al got Quidditch Captain and Scorpius got Head Boy.'

'That's incredible! How about we go out and celebrate? Leaky Cauldron sounds good right? Well that is if we can still go there,' he said looking at me pointedly.

'I told you. Nothing happened. Rose was just being… well she was just being Rose,' I said.

'So is everybody in?' he asked.

Lorcan, Zabini and Scorpius nodded. Now you might think it's strange that Scorpius was celebrating with us instead of his own family but that was pretty much how things worked. He did everything with us. He didn't really get on with his parents. Despite being put in Slytherin he wasn't a pureblood supremacist. Honestly that stereotype is a bit ridiculous. Everyone thinks Slytherins are evil. They aren't, they just have their own set of morals. If we're being fair Rose was far meaner to people than either Scorpius or Zabini were. She still got put in Gryffindor.

So anyway, we all decided to go to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner and because my family is huge we ended up booking the whole place. Hugo got Prefect too so that was another reason to celebrate. I didn't really want to though because I knew Rose was pretty cut up about not getting Head Girl. And I also knew that Aunt Hermione being Aunt Hermione would force her to come.

We got to The Leaky Cauldron by about seven. Uncle Neville who was my favourite professor was bartender. 'Hello Al,' he said smiling when he saw me. 'Heard the news. Congratulations.'

'Thanks. Where's Ria?' I asked. She usually waits tables during the holidays so I was surprised she wasn't around. 'Wanted to know if would like to join us.'

'Oh she's upstairs with Arya,' he said. 'Thought we'd give her the night off; she got some pretty special news too. But sure ask them if they'd like to join you.'

'Cool.'

I went upstairs. The Longbottoms have an awesome house. It's on the top of the pub so you would expect it to be small, but then we're wizards so with the help of a couple of undetectable extension charms it ended up being pretty big. Okay so there was another reason I wanted her to join us. I felt pretty bad about Rose's behavior and I kind of wanted to apologize. Yeah the others call me the conscience of the group. They say I always try to set things right. Well that is if it doesn't inconvenience me too much.

I knocked on her door. Arya Thomas opened it.

'Hey, I was wondering if you and Ria would like to join us,' I said.

'Sure,' she said shrugging. 'Ria needs to get out more anyway. And now that she's Head Girl she needs to get over her irrational fear of people.'

'Arya,' Ria said throwing a cushion at her friend's head.

Arya just laughed and went downstairs. Well at least Lorcan would be happy. He's liked her for at least three years. Once when he was really really drunk he wrote a song about her.

'Well since my friend has decided that I need to be more sociable I suppose I must join you,' Ria said.

'Yes you must, and congratulations on Head Girl,' I said. 'Oh and I'm also sorry about today morning. I don't think I handled that very well.'

'Nah it's okay,' she said. 'No harm no foul right?'

'Yeah but I'm sorry about Rose. She can be a little…'

'Abrasive?' she said a smile forming at corners of her mouth.

'Yeah abrasive. So shall we?' I asked. She nodded and we made our way to the party.

**a/n: So I hope you like this chapter. The next couple are going to be different POV characters. If you've read my other stuff you'll know I'm a Lily/Scorpius shipper so you can expect some of that. So please revieww :) **


	4. Chapter 4

ROSE

Oh this was just the best wasn't it? My baby brother and annoying little cousin both got badges. Mum was in heaven when Hugo got his. She Flooed Gran and Granddad and Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry. So much excitement, we have another prefect in the family. As if we didn't have enough already. If I'm being perfectly honest I know I didn't deserve to be Head Girl, it's just that Mum wanted it so bad. She wanted me to be like her, first prefect then head girl. But they didn't make me a prefect. Still she was always hopeful. So now I was basically a failure in her eyes. And to top it all off Scor got Head Boy. I don't even know how that happened. He's just as irresponsible and uncaring as I am if not more so.

Anyway enough of my ranting. So we had to go to this stupid party. I didn't even try to get out of it. I knew Mum wouldn't let me. Dad wouldn't really care. He never did. Sometimes when the tabloids were particularly bad he would cover for me. I would still be in massive trouble but he would make sure Mum didn't find out. He hated doing that though. My parents bickered a lot but they did love and trust each other and Dad felt like crap every time he lied.

We Flooed into The Leaky Cauldron and I saw Al talking to that annoyance Ariana Longbottom. Ugh she irritates me so much. You should hear Mum going on about her. 'Rose did you know that Ariana studied nine hours a day during her OWLs?'

'Ariana's never come in the paper Rose.' Ariana Ariana Ariana. That was all I ever heard from her. She's the sort of daughter that Mum would've liked to have.

'Hannah,' Mum said smiling at Mrs. Longbottom.

'Hello Hermione,' Mrs. Longbottom said giving Mum a hug.

'Hi Neville,' Dad said to Mr. Longbottom.

'Hey Ron,' he said smiling broadly. 'Did you hear the news? Ariana got Head Girl.'

I felt my heart drop. Oh fuck. Anyone but her.

'That's incredible Neville,' Mum said excitedly. 'You must be so proud.'

'I am. I always said she worked too hard. A little like you actually, but I suppose it all paid off,' he said grinning.

I hate her so much. I kept my face completely blank, devoid of all emotions and if you know me that's something that I find very hard to do.

'I think I'll go join Daemon and Scorpius,' I said. Mum just nodded not paying much attention to me.

They were sitting in a corner as far away from everyone as possible. It was actually a little funny. They were perfectly at home in a noisy bar with girls throwing themselves at them but a family dinner was like a punishment for them. I sunk into the sofa next to Scorpius. He put his arm around me.

'I'm sorry Rosie,' he said, kissing my head.

'It's okay,' I sighed. 'I would've made a crap Head Girl in any case.'

'I'm sure your Mum's still proud of you. I mean you did get a hundred and fifteen percent in most of your papers last year. And you got all Outstandings,' he said comfortingly. Al, Lorcan, Daemon and Scor were the only people who knew about my um… how do I put it? 'Mummy issues'. Eww now that sounds like something off those ridiculous American T.V shows that Dominique was always watching.

'Not all Outstandings,' I pointed out. 'I got an E in History Of Magic.'

'One Exceeds Expectations, oh what a tragedy,' Daemon said laughing at my woebegone expression.

'Shut up,' I said laughing too, because they always made me feel better. 'What's Al doing with that loser anyway?' I asked gesturing toward Ariana.

'You know Al,' Scor said shrugging. 'He probably feels bad about today morning.'

'Where's Lorcan?' I asked.

Scor just smirked. 'He's trying to ask Arya Thomas out. He been talking to her for about half an hour but I don't think he's managed it yet.'

Ugh Thomas is attractive enough I suppose but she's just so dull. All she thinks about is Quidditch. She's also the most frigid bitch I have ever laid eyes on. I think that adds to her allure though. Guys like a challenge.

'Albus!' I called.

He looked at Longbottom apologetically. She just nodded her head and he came bounding over.

'Hello Rosie,' he said.

'What is up with you and Longbottom? Are you in luurve with her?' I asked.

'No,' he said brushing me off, but I could see the telltale reddening of his ears.

'Wait you actually like Longbottom? So she wasn't just another girl in your bed?' I asked annoyed.

'I don't know. I definitely don't "luurve" her,' he said rolling his eyes.

The Wolf Pack has a strict no lies policy so I had to take his word for it, but now I hated Longbottom double.

Lorcan came up to the table.

'So?' I asked. 'Did you ask her out?'

He shook his head, embarrassed. 'I kept trying to chat her up and she kept going off topic. We ended up arguing about whether or not the Cannons had a chance at the Championship this year.'

See I told you too much Quidditch was a problem.

'It's okay,' I said. 'We can drown our sorrows in this.' I pulled a bottle of Firewhiskey out of my purse. Undetectable Extension charms were the best.

'Rose,' Al said warningly.

'What?' I asked. 'We're over-age. It isn't even illegal.'

I summoned five glasses.

'To making our last year at Hogwarts the best one yet,' I said.

'And to Lorcan asking Arya out as opposed to hooking up with random girls,'

'And to Albus waking up on time,'

'Oi I am a very punctual person,'

'Yeah punctual like Ethelred the Unready,' I said laughing. Muggles in England thought Ethelred the Unready was a random English king when he was actually a goblin who never showed up to his battle on time. Surrounded by all my friends I realized that just because I didn't get that stupid badge didn't mean this year was going to be rubbish. If anything it was going to be even better.

'To always being friends,' I said smiling.

'I'll drink to that,' Scor said squeezing my hand.

SCORPIUS

Poor Rose. It's a lot of pressure being the child of Hermione Weasley née Granger. You had to be brilliant at every thing academics related. You had to be hardworking and above all you had to be good. Now it was easy for Rose to be brilliant, if she had really wanted to she could have been hardworking but she couldn't be good. She tried hard though. In her first two years at Hogwarts she tried. But she was simply not the upholder of rules her mother was. When I say she couldn't be good I don't mean she was a bad person. Rose was loyal, brave and funny. She just didn't really get on with everyone and no one really understood Rose.

There was absolutely no pressure being a Malfoy though. Everyone was surprised when you did well because who expects anything from the child of a disgraced ex-Death Eater. Any time Al or Rose was caught doing something they shouldn't be doing someone would write another long article about how Zabini and me were a bad influence on the children of the Golden Trio.

I got back home pretty late. Dad was sitting on the couch waiting for me.

'Where've you been?' he asked.

'Where do you think I've been?'

Dad wrinkled his nose. 'You spend more time at the Potters' than you do here.'

'And you know why don't you?' I said. 'Oh and I got Head Boy.'

I walked up to the room not waiting to hear what he said. I hate my family. It's so messed up. My mum and dad are consistently unfaithful but they refuse to split up. I hate this house. I can't wait to move out. Dad constantly pushes me towards his old friend's daughters. I mean Deino Goyle really? Why on earth would anyone in their right mind want their child to end up with the child of their ex-girlfriend and their best friend? It makes no sense, but in all those stupid formal dinners Mum has she always puts us together.

So everyone thinks I'm made of stone or something (well everyone except Rose, Al, Lorcan and Daemon) but I'm actually not. Things affect me just as much as they affect other people; I've just learned to hide it better. Lorcan, Al and Rose are terrible at hiding their feelings. I was actually surprised that we managed to leave the party without Rose seriously harming Ariana. Especially when Al flirted with her the whole evening. Not to be mean or anything but Ariana Longbottom is not very sharp. I mean she's really intelligent. 'Cept for Rose I don't think anyone can get higher grades than her. But it's just that she's so clueless. To be honest I don't think she'd be very good for him. Al needs someone with a little more personality, who wasn't shut away with her books all the time. And Rose obviously didn't like her. I didn't like upsetting Rose. All of us were oddly protective of her though we knew she really didn't need protection. It's just that there was something oddly fragile about Rose. It's like she threw herself at life so hard we were worried that one day, she might just break.

**a/n: I know this is a lot of background information, but it's back to Hogwarts next chapter so it'll pick up. I really appreciate all the favs and story alerts, so thank you to everyone who did that but I would really like it if you would review and tell me what you think. **


	5. Chapter 5

ALBUS

So did I mean to fall for Ariana Longbottom? No. That was actually the last thing I could ever imagine happening. Ariana wasn't the sort of girl I dated. For one, they usually showed a lot more skin. And they usually threw themselves at me. I mean I could name a number of girls who would give their right arm to wake up in bed next to me but Ariana seemed horrified. And most of them also weren't the daughters of my favourite professor not mention Head of House. Okay I'm going to stay away from Ria.

We found an unoccupied compartment and got settled in. Eight hours was a long journey. Lorcan pulled out a couple of potions books. He was creating a really complicated firework that would blow up when someone said a particular word. So we could be out of the room and someone could say 'water' or 'tables' and it would burst. It would make it way more difficult for teachers to catch us so I was all for it. I had already gotten way too many detentions.

Scorpius left pretty soon to go to the Prefects/Heads compartment. We started playing a game of exploding snap. Lorcan went to the loo and came back with Arya Thomas.

'So you're the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain?' she asked when she saw my badge.

'Yep,' I said.

She laughed. 'Think you can get out of bed in time for practice?'

'I do not sleep that much,' I said indignantly.

'You kind of do Allie,' Rose said teasingly.

'Oi whose side are you on?' I asked mock annoyed.

She just laughed. 'So did you see the last Harpies game?' Rose asked.

'No, I missed it,' Arya said, disappointedly. 'I heard it was incredible.'

'It was. Aunt Ginny got us really good seats. Amy Barron caught the snitch after three hours and the Harpies won by ten points. It was a nail biter,' Rose said animatedly.

They continued talking about Quidditch and slowly moved to other topics. I realized to my surprise that Rose was being _nice_.

'Hello,' Scorpius said sliding into the compartment, looking at Arya with surprise.

She smiled at him. 'Hi, so you're done with the whole prefects discussion thing?'

'Yeah,' he said.

'Okay then I'll go find Ria. It was nice talking to you Rose,' she said sounding a little surprised with her own statement. She shook her head as if to clear it and left.

'Okay so what just happened?' Scorpius asked.

'Yeah Rosie. You didn't even let me talk to her,' Lorcan said annoyed.

'I think Rose made a friend,' I said.

'Shut up all of you. It's just nice to talk to girls sometimes. I mean I have to put up with you idiots all the time,' she said.

'Oh I am hurt,' Daemon said, in a mock-injured tone. 'Are you saying that we aren't enough for you?'

She just stuck her tongue out at him.

'But seriously Rosie cut the crap. Why were you being so nice?' I asked.

'I resent your tone. It implies that I am not nice to any one,' she said.

Rose is a master at avoiding stuff she doesn't want to talk about so we decided not to bother. It's just way too much effort.

Lorcan started explaining the different ways to make a sleeping draught and so I lay back in the seat and had a nap. He talks too much anyway. And he always has information about stuff that really doesn't matter.

ARIANA

Oh yay. My first day as Head Girl. I knew Scorpius was Head Boy, Lily and Hugo were Gryffindor Prefects; Deino Goyle was the Slytherin prefect and Lukas Schwartz the Ravenclaw Prefect. I had absolutely no clue who the rest were. The levels of my nervousness cannot be described. Scorpius came in first. I smiled at him and he just nodded acknowledging my presence. Lily came in and was accompanied by the Hufflepuff Prefect Daniel Welbeck. His arm was around her waist. I looked at her quizzically. She just mouthed, 'later.'

She glared at Scorpius. She obviously still hadn't forgotten his use of her bed. He just smiled at her unrepentantly. 'Good to see you too Lilykins,' he said mockingly.

Soon everyone was there. The other Slytherin Prefect was Mark Donovan, the other Ravenclaw Prefect was Denise Miller and the other Hufflepuff prefect was Priya Corner. After we had gone through all the formalities we had to decide who got paired with whom during rounds and who got what day of the week. It took us about an hour to realize that we weren't going to be able to decide anytime soon and the best solution would be to draw lots. I got Mark Donovan, Lily much to her dismay did not get Welbeck but got Malfoy instead. Priya Corner and Denise Miller got put together, Lukas Schwartz got Deino Goyle and Hugo got Daniel Welbeck. We only had to patrol Sunday to Friday. We got Saturday off thankfully. We got the day we had to patrol and after some arguing, finally sorted out all our immediate duties.

'Okay tell me what's going on with you two?' I asked Lily once we were done.

'Well we knew that we liked each other last year but he didn't want to do anything about it because of his psychotic ex who wasn't really letting go, but he sorted it all out so I guess we're dating now,' she explained.

'Aww Lils that's amazing,' I said. 'But why didn't you tell me?'

'Well I didn't really want to tell anyone 'cause they were still having kind of in a relationship,' she said.

'Oh okay. I guess I should go find Arya. See you at the castle Lils.'

I quickly found Arya; unfortunately there were no empty compartments.

'You'll never guess who I just spent the last hour with,' she said.

'Who?' I asked.

'Rose Weasley,' she said.

'What? You spent an hour with the devils incarnate? Why?' I asked.

'Well Lorcan sort of hijacked me on my way back from the loo, and since you were off doing Head Girl stuff I figured I would go hang out with them for a bit. And then I ended up talking to Rose. And it actually wasn't that bad. She knows a lot about Quidditch,' she said.

'Is that all you think about Arya? Quidditch? And remember this is Rose we're talking about. She's the one who put the Permanent Sticking charm on my hair. I had to cut it all off. Rose is a bitch.'

Arya rolled her eyes, 'That was at least four years ago. And Madame Pomfrey regrew it in like ten seconds. And you have to admit it takes a lot of skill to put a Permanent Sticking charm on every single strand of hair.'

'I'm not doubting Rose's skill as a witch I'm just saying she's a terrible person and we should stay away from her,' I said emphatically.

'Oh don't be so dramatic. People can change,' she said.

'Not Rose. People like Rose do not change,' I said it with such conviction that Arya was momentarily silenced.

'Fine,' she said after a few seconds. 'Rose is evil. Now can we find a compartment so we don't have to argue in the corridor.'

We found a compartment with only one inhabitant and we decided to sit there. Unfortunately that inhabitant was Lysander Scamander. Lorcan Scamander's baby brother, so our favourite topic of conversation the Wolf Pack could not be touched. But really Lysander's so dreamy it doesn't even matter. He is the polar opposite of Lorcan. I like him so much more than his brother. They have the same blonde hair and grey eyes but the resemblance ends there. Lorcan's tall and lanky while Lysander's kind of chubby and short. He's really cute though even if he is a little weird. He once informed me that he was going hunting for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks with his Mum over winter break.

By the time we got to the castle I was starving. Arya and I hurried to get a seat at the table. The first years got sorted, the headmistress gave her usual speech and the feast began. Much to my annoyance Lorcan sat opposite Arya and started a conversation. I zoned out until I heard, 'So next Hogsmeade weekend then?'

'Yeah it's a date,' Arya said.

He grinned. Oh I was going to have to have a long talk with that girl.

**a/n: Hope you liked it. Please please revieww. Reviews inspire mee :) **


	6. Chapter 6

LILY

I hate Scorpius Malfoy from the depths of my heart so being stuck with him for an hour is really not much fun. We got patrol on Mondays. Like Mondays weren't bad enough already. He was standing in the Entrance Hall after dinner surrounded by his friends. I tapped him on the shoulder.

'We have to go on rounds,' I said, unenthusiastically.

He nodded and we started walking toward the staircases.

'Oooh little Lilykins is going somewhere with a boy,' Rose said nastily. 'At night. There's a lovely broom closet on the third floor, if you're interested.'

'Not even something to joke about Rose,' Al said. 'Touch my sister Scor and I'll break your neck.'

I ignored them and continued towards the stairs.

'I'm guessing Al doesn't know about Welbeck,' Scorpius said.

'Yes and I would like to keep it that way, if you don't mind. Al isn't quite as protective as James is but it's not fun having a boyfriend who's afraid to touch you.'

'Oh yeah Connor Williams right? That was a good prank,' he said.

'Yeah but you're Head Boy now, so no more pranks.'

He just snorted. 'Yeah because a stupid badge is going to make me stop having fun.'

'You lot have too much fun. It's really quite annoying,' I said sharply remembering the horror I had witnessed in my bed.

'Aww Lilykins,' he said stepping closer to me. 'You just have to learn how to live a little.'

Oh well two can play at that game. 'Maybe you need to learn how to,' I paused moving my face closer to his so our noses were almost touching, 'respect boundaries.'

He moved in for a kiss and I moved away causing him to stumble.

'Come on let's start patrolling,' I said with a laugh.

'You have more of Rose in you than you know,' he said grumbling.

The idiot. Did he really think I was going to do anything with him? I have a nice boyfriend. One who tells me I'm pretty and laughs at my jokes and doesn't screw everything with legs and boobs.

Also one who you haven't told your family about yet a small voice in my head reminded me.

But that's for his protection I said arguing with myself mentally.

Yeah but he wants to tell everyone and he's a big boy he can handle it.

Okay maybe I conceded. But that doesn't mean he embarrasses me it's more like my family embarrasses me and I don't want him to get scared off.

I'll take your word for it that stupid voice in my head said, unconvinced.

'Are you okay Lily? Scorpius asked. Damn I bet I had been making weird faces. This is the problem with having internal arguments in front of someone. You end up looking like an idiot.

'Yeah I'm fine. Let's go to the dungeons I want to finish that part off as soon as possible, it creeps me out,' I said.

'Sure,' he said shrugging. ' But the dungeons aren't that bad. I quite like them.'

'Well of course you would,' I said sticking my tongue out at him, 'you're a slimy snake. The dungeons are probably where you feel most at home.'

He didn't rise to the bait. He just smiled. 'For a courageous lion you sure seem frightened of what is simply a rather cold damp place. Aren't all Gryffindors supposed to be daring?'

'Oh I can be plenty daring,' I said, gently placing my hand on his chest.

'Oh really? Then did you chose the most boring, dependable person you could find to be your boyfriend. You need a real man.'

'And I suppose you're him?' Merlin what was I saying? I sounded so… I dunno… different.

'Maybe,' he said and with that started walking toward the dungeons.

Rounds were definitely going to be more interesting than I originally thought.

ROSE

I love annoying Lily; she's just such an annoying do-gooder. That's probably why she and Longbottom are joined at the hip. I was walking back to my common room by myself since Albus needed to talk to Professor Longbottom about booking the pitch and Daemon and Lorcan had to go to their own common rooms. I thinking of ways to ensure Ariana Longbottom had a particularly bad year and I wasn't really looking where I was going. So when Roger McLaggen ran into me I wasn't really expecting it.

'Watch it,' I said, trying to sound as nasty as I could.

'Sorry,' he said, helping me up.

'So what were you rushing to anyway?' I asked.

'It can wait. So what are you doing next Hogsmeade weekend?' he asked.

'Are you asking me out on a date?' After knocking me down? Why would I say yes?'

'Because you know you'll have a good time,' he said cockily.

Oh might as well. Lorcan was going with Arya Thomas and Scorpius always had some girl he would take to the Three Broomsticks and shag afterward. And the two Quidditch captains of our group Daemon and Al would probably be working on tactics.

'Okay, I'll come. But you better show me a good time,' I said suggestively.

He smiled and walked off. Well now I didn't feel like such a loser. Al ran to catch up with me.

'Why were you talking to McLaggen?' he asked.

'He ran into me and while apologizing asked me out.'

'You said no right? Because McLaggen is not good news Rose. He's actually quite awful,' he said.

'No I said yes. And I'm a big girl Al so don't worry about me.'

'Oh if only it were that easy,' he muttered.

'Don't be so overprotective,' I said.

'Well if I can't protect you then who am I supposed to protect?' he said laughing.

'What about your sister? I heard she's dating that Hufflepuff boy Welbeck,' I said.

'What?' he sputtered.

'Yeah apparently Arya saw them snogging yesterday,' I said.

'Wait wait wait. Lily can't have a boyfriend already she just broke it off with Williams. And since when do you talk to Arya?' he said grasping at straws.

I rolled my eyes. 'Do you even know which year we're in? Lily broke up with Williams at the beginning of her fourth year. And I talk to Arya because I know it pisses Longbottom off.'

'Rosie,' he said warningly. 'Don't go messing with other people's friendships. It isn't right.'

'Oh please when have I ever done anything that's right?' I said scornfully.

He just shook his head and we made our way up to the common room. We finished our homework off pretty quick and just lay on the couch staring into the fire. At about twelve Lily came back in.

'How was Scorpius in bed or a broom closet or whatever,' I asked mocking her.

'Shut up,' she said.

'Oh and Lils what's this I hear about you having a boyfriend?' Albus asked.

'Who told you?' she asked blushing.

'I did,' I said. 'I thought it was only right that your big brother should know. After all, family is everything. Isn't it Lilykins.'

'Like you give a fuck about family,' she said storming off.

'Why must you always ruffle her feathers?' Al sighed.

'She basically sets herself up for it. It's not like she doesn't take shots at me whenever she can,' I defended myself.

'She actually doesn't,' Al said quietly. 'Do remember when she used to hero-worship you? What went wrong?'

'We grew up,' I said bleakly.

**a/n: I'm sorry that it's moving so slowly but I don't think I can speed it up much. Anyway please revieww :) **


	7. Chapter 7

DAEMON

Finally a weekend off. I had been killing myself trying to get the Slytherin Quidditch team in shape and I had decided to just let them be for a day and go to Hogsmeade instead. Okay so I had actually planned the training schedule so we wouldn't have to work this Saturday, smart right? Well I had been captain for two years now while Al was kind of new to the job so he couldn't come to Hogsmeade and had to train with his team.

'So what are we going to do at Hogsmeade?' I asked.

'You mean what are you going to do at Hogsmeade,' Al groused. 'I have to stay here and figure out how to make my Quidditch team co-operate. They don't seem to get the meaning of the word team. Except for Hugo and Lily they all play like bags of dragon dung.'

'James managed to keep them in line,' I said.

'Yeah well James was a lot more energetic than me,' he groaned. 'Sturridge wanted captain so he doesn't do anything I tell him to, Wood's been off her game lately and Hooper has yet to save a goal. And to top it all off Nicky Anderson has decided to watch all the Quidditch practices so none of the guys in my team concentrate. They all stare at her in hope that her skirt'll blow up.'

'I pity you mate, I really do,' I said laughing 'but I'm not going to pretend that this isn't music to my ears.'

Just then an owl landed on the table.

'Mine,' Rose said. She read the letter her mum sent her and started leafing through a copy of Witch Weekly.

'Oh Merlin not again!' she said thrusting the magazine into my hands.

'What?' I asked.

'Page seventeen.'

I quickly flipped through the magazine. It had been three weeks since we got to Hogwarts. We hadn't done anything even remotely scandalous in that time. Oh by the wrath of Morgana. We got an entire two pages dedicated to us. Someone had 'analyzed' us and our 'roles' in the group. I looked at the byline and sure enough it was Rita Skeeter who had produced this ridiculous piece of trash. The whole article basically tore us into shreds. It also had the audacity to suggest that we were favoured above others in Hogwarts because Al and I were Quidditch captains and Scorpius was Head Boy. Al might have been one of the laziest people I knew but he was still a brilliant Quidditch player. So I didn't quite get why Scor was Head Boy but I knew teachers did this to make certain students more responsible sometimes.

Apparently Rose was the glue that held us all together and the only reason we hung out is because we were all secretly in love with her (well except Al, even Skeeter wasn't that messed up). She was also sleeping with all of us. It also went on to describe in detail how she played us all off against each other to feed her already gigantic ego. The most ironic thing was that we were probably the only guys who Rose didn't mess with. And Rose was actually one of the most insecure people I knew. It went on to suggest that Al was still deeply in love with Scorpius even though Scor had divided his affections between him and Rose. I mean really what does she think we do? Have massive orgies every night?

'I hate her so much,' I said.

'Nah don't worry about it, she said Mum was brewing love potions for most of her fourth year in order to capture the hearts of both Uncle Harry and Victor Krum.'

'Krum? Like the coach of the Bulgarian national team?' I asked.

'Yeah, they dated when he came here for the Tri-Wizard Tournament,' she said. 'And no one reads this crap anyway. Mum blackmailed her for a bit because she was an illegal animagus and got her to stop writing all this shite. But after the war she went to prison. She didn't even go to Azkaban. The stupid bitch got sent to some correctional facility and got out in a year and continued writing all this crap.' She stabbed a piece of sausage with her fork and continued eating as if nothing was wrong, though she did glare at her food from time to time.

'Anyway, so who's coming with me to Hogsmeade?' I asked. This was my first weekend out and I wanted to have fun.

'Sorry mate, you know I've got a date,' Lorcan said apologetically.

'Yeah we've heard about nothing except your date for the last three weeks.' I said laughing.

'I have a date too,' Rose said.

'Who?' I asked surprised.

'Roger McLaggen,' Albus answered bitterly.

'McLaggen? Why Rosie? You know he's an arsehole,' Scor asked.

'I'm a big girl I know what I'm doing,' she said.

'When did he ask you out?' I asked.

'Oh a couple of weeks ago,' she said noncommittally.

'What? And you didn't tell us? Why?' Lorcan asked.

'Because I knew you would disapprove. Now I'm going to get ready for my date. See you later,' she said, walking away.

'Okay so who's going to hang out with me at Hogsmeade today?' I asked feeling like an absolute idiot. I mean all of them were busy. It was so annoying.

'Stop whining,' Scor said. 'I'll come with you.'

'Really? You don't have a date?' I asked surprised.

'Nope,' he said.

'Come to think of it I haven't seen you with any girl for the past three weeks. What's going on?' Al asked.

'Nothing. Just because I choose not to shag everything with legs does not mean something's wrong.'

'You have to admit it's a little weird. I mean this is probably the longest you've gone without sex in about two years,' I said.

'Three weeks does not a celibate make. Now do you want me to come to Hogsmeade with you or not?' he asked huffily.

LILY

I hate my brother, I really do. I couldn't believe he was making me miss the first Hogsmeade weekend. Our team was crap anyway, it's not like an extra practice would help. We were going to get flattened by Ravenclaw. After about three hours of getting nowhere Al finally had to let us off when that idiot Sturridge elbowed Wood in the face. She had to be taken to the Hospital Wing because her nose wouldn't stop bleeding. I could tell he wasn't sure whether or not to continue with practice but then he notice Ria walking around the pitch and his mind was made up. He quickly let us off and rushed to join her.

I went back to the Gryffindor common room with Hugo. We changed and were on our way to Hogsmeade before Al could change his mind and make us practice more. Don't get me wrong I love Quidditch. It's just not the be all and end all of my existence. I did feel a little sorry for Al though. He really wasn't all that good at this captaining thing. James was a lot more confident and a lot more commanding too.

So anyway, Hugo and I made our way to the Three Broomsticks. They had started selling chilled butterbeer that tasted like heaven and after Quidditch I felt all hot and sticky so I really wanted one. We sat at the bar and Andrea, Madame Rosemerta's daughter, served us drinks. I saw Hugo surreptitiously checking her out and whacked him on the back of the head.

'Stop staring at her arse,' I said.

'What? She's fit,' he said defensively.

'I have to agree with you there mate,' an amused voice said from behind us.

'Oh hello Scorpius,' I said trying to sound as devoid of emotion as possible. It's difficult though because being around Scorpius always makes my stomach do weird flips. It's not that I like him or anything; it's just that he makes everything seem like an adventure, even rounds. Actually he does turn rounds into an adventure sometimes. Last Monday we went swimming. In the Black Lake. In the middle of the night. It was freezing cold and I thought my face was going to drop off but I have never felt so alive.

'Hello Lilypad, where's that boyfriend of yours? Did he leave you all on your lonesome?' Scorpius asked.

'She isn't alone. I'm sitting right here,' Hugo said indignantly.

'No I was just going to go look for him,' I said, though I honestly hadn't even thought about him. 'What are you doing with Zabini? Don't you usually only take girls you want to shag on dates.'

'He's a celibate now,' Zabini said a wicked twinkle in his eyes.

'Shut up,' Scorpius muttered. 'I told you it's only been three weeks.'

I ignored the sudden feeling of happiness that shot through my body when I heard that Scorpius hadn't screwed anyone in a while.

'What happened Malfoy?' I teased. 'Hogwarts run out of slags for you to shag?'

Before he could answer Daniel came over. 'Hey Lils,' he said dropping a kiss on to my lips. 'Thought you had practice today.'

'Yeah Al called it off after a rather unfortunate incident involving our keeper and a chaser. He also saw Ria walking around the pitch and basically ran to her,' I said.

Zabini laughed but Malfoy looked a little uncomfortable. 'So he does really like Longbottom then?' he asked.

'Looks that way,' I said carefully seeing his reactions. 'But I don't think she'll go for him.'

'Rose'll kill her if she does,' he muttered.

'Yeah well I don't see how it's any of her business,' I said tartly.

'Al's her best friend,' he said trying to defend her.

'Please when has she ever taken your advice on who to date,' I scoffed.

'But she's…' he trailed off.

'Yeah I know. She's Rose and she always gets her way right?' I said bitterly.

That effectively shut him up and I realized that everyone had been watching us argue. I grabbed Daniel's hand and left the pub. I needed space.

**a/n: So I know there hasn't been much Al/Ariana lately but I'm coming to that, promise. And I've started writing two chapters. One's the Al/Ariana one and one's the Lorca/Arya one. So tell me which one you'd like to have up first. And if you want to suggest another POV character please tell mee. Updates might get a little erratic since I have my GCSEs so bear with me. And since I don't get my stories beta'd there might be a couple of mistakes. So if you see a couple of grammar messups forgive me. I change what characters say all the time so there might be a couple of those. Anywayy please revieww :) **


	8. Chapter 8

LORCAN

'And we both ended up very very naked in a swimming pool full of muggles. Luckily it was dark.'

'You and Ariana Longbottom? I refuse to believe that,' I said.

'Ria isn't exactly the goody-two-shoes people think she is. She's loads of fun,' she said.

'Forgive me for saying this but I just don't really get how you're friends. I mean you're both really really different people,' I said.

'It's what makes it better. I would get bored if I just hung out with people who were exactly like me,' she said. 'I mean you and you're friends are pretty different aren't you?'

'I guess but I feel like we're all more or less on the same page. We all like having fun and creating as much trouble as possible,' I explained.

'Well can't create too much trouble anymore can you? With Malfoy being Head Boy,' she said.

'Nah we're still the same screw-ups we were last year it's just that now one of us has a badge that can get us out of trouble.'

'That's an interesting way to look at it,' she said, laughing.

'Okay another thing I don't get is why you haven't dated anyone. I mean you're absolutely gorgeous, smart and have a wicked sense of humour,' I said.

'I'm flattered but what makes you think I don't date?' she asked.

'Well I've never really seen you with a bloke,' I said.

'I kind of had a relationship with Arnav Corner last year' she admitted.

'What? Really?' I asked surprised.

'Yeah. You're actually the first person I told,' she said.

'Why did you keep it a secret though?' I asked genuinely curious.

'It was easier that way. And honestly you can't really call it a proper relationship. It was just a lot of…'

'Shagging?' I completed for her.

'Yeah a lot of shagging,' she said looking at my reaction. I kept my face blank. 'You don't mind,' she said, more as a statement than a question. 'Why?'

'If I went after you for a having a friends with benefits sort of thing going it would be rather like the pot calling the kettle black right?' I said. 'And as long as it's over I don't see how it affects me.' And it didn't really affect me that much. Sure I would've probably been happier if it was me in her bed but considering the number of girls I slept with last year (though I hadn't slept with nearly as many as Scorpius had) I really couldn't find fault with her behavior. I mean at least it was just one guy. Always knew I didn't like Corner though.

'You're different than I expected,' she said.

'We should probably be heading back,' I said as I looked at my watch. It was already six.

We walked out of The Three Broomsticks. She started to go toward the road leading to the castle. I pulled her back.

'I know a shortcut,' I said.

I took her to Honeydukes. 'Okay so make sure the owner isn't watching,' I whispered to her.

'Okay,' she said laughing.

We sneaked past him and got to the secret passage. No one outside the Weasley/Potter family, Daemon, Scor and me knew about this passage. Though since the Weasley family was huge a fair number of people were aware of its existence.

'This is very cool,' she said. 'How did find out about it?'

'Can't tell you all my secrets in one day now can I?' I murmured pulling her closer, which was fairly easy to do 'cause the passage was pretty narrow. This was basically the moment I had been waiting for, for the last three years. I leaned forward and kissed her. And she kissed me back. I felt like doing a happy dance but I knew that might ruin the mood.

'How about we take this somewhere more comfortable,' she said.

We quickly walked down the passage. The minute we stepped out of the statue I pressed her against the wall and continued where I had left off

'Perhaps some place more private?' she suggested after about a minute.

'I know the perfect place,' I said, smiling.

'Seventh floor?' she asked.

'Yep.'

We hurried up there. I practically ran past the door three times. When we got in there was a large bed and nothing else.

'Minimalistic,' she commented.

She pushed me onto the bed. And suddenly she was everywhere. Every inch of my body felt like it was on fire. I trailed kisses down her neck making her groan. She slipped my t-shirt over my head. I barely even noticed. It was only when she started to take hers off I stopped.

'What's wrong' she asked.

'I want you to know that this isn't just another hook up for me. I really like you, I have for about three years now,' I said.

'I'm sorry Lorcan,' she said sounding genuinely upset. 'I'm just not looking for a relationship right now.'

I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Why am I such an idiot?

'Do you mind if I stick around and try to change your mind?' I asked.

'I don't want to lead you on,' she said biting her lower lip. 'I'm not that sort of person.'

'I'm still going to try,' I said.

'I'm so sorry,' she said and just left. I sat in that empty room on the bed for about an hour. I went to retrieve my shirt still feeling a little dazed and made my way to the Gryffindor common room. I needed a friend.

ROSE

They were right. Roger McLaggen was the most boring individual in the history of this planet. All he did was talk about himself; I would actually have rather been on a date with Longbottom. Not her immensely hotter older brother who happens to be an auror, her. I would rather be dating her.

'So then Great-Uncle Tiberius said that we must get together this summer too though he's at least ninety years old. Dad said I had to go because he was going to leave us a lot of money. And-'

I cut him off, 'That's lovely Roger but we really should be heading back to the castle.'

'Oh is it that late already?' he looked at his watch.

Yes, I wanted to shout, yes it is that late already. I had spent five hours with this guy and have been looking at the clock for at least four of them. And my attempts to leave were completely unsuccessful since he didn't actually let me talk long enough to tell him that I wanted to go.

We walked back to the castle. He dropped me at the Gryffindor common room and before I could say the password and get in he kissed me. Oh it was so gross. It was like being kissed by the giant squid. His hands were everywhere. I pushed him off.

'I'm sorry but I don't think this is going to work out,' I said trying to get the taste of him out of my mouth.

'I think I can change your mind,' he said and lunged for me again. I pushed him away.

'No I don't think you can change my mind,' I said. 'But thanks for the meal.'

He left muttering angrily.

'_Averto'_ I said to the Fat Lady.

'Well I'd certainly say you did that,' she said smirking.

**a/n: Thanks to everyone who favourited and story alerted. Can you please please revieww :) **


	9. Chapter 9

ALBUS

I know I said I'd stay away from her but it was just difficult.

'Hey,' I said catching up to her.

'Hi,' she said smiling at me. 'What happened to your practice?'

'Oh had a bit of an accident,' I said. 'Why aren't you at Hogsmeade?'

'Had no one to go with,' she said. 'Arya went with Lorcan.'

'Well I'm glad you haven't gone. Now I have someone to hang out with,' I said.

She just smiled. 'I have to go to the library and finish a little homework. Do you want to come with me?' she asked.

'Sure I'll just shower, meet you there in ten minutes,' I said.

I quickly showered and went up to the library. She had already started doing her homework and she was biting her lip in concentration. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a messy bun and her fringe fell across her eyes.

I sat next to her. 'I know that you're the best at potions since you always get ridiculously high grades. So you have to help me write an essay on the different elements in the Draught Of The Living Death,' she said.

'Yeah sure I'll help you. I finished mine ages ago,' I said.

'I don't get how you do that. You play at least ten hours of Quidditch a week and you always mess around in class and you still manage to do really well,' she said sounding a little annoyed.

'I guess I'm just lucky,' I shrugged. 'And Aunt Hermione helps us a lot. I've got all her old notes. She offered them to Rose but Rose didn't want them.'

'Why doesn't Rose like me?' she asked.

'Oh you know Rose,' I said, lying half-heartedly. 'She isn't really very nice to anyone.'

'Bollocks,' she snorted. 'Rose hates me. And I'm fairly certain I haven't done anything to her. I mean the way she acts you'd think I killed her cat.'

'It's nothing you've done. Well it kind of is but not really. Rose doesn't particularly like you because she feels like you're the sort of daughter her mother would've liked to have,' I explained.

'Oh,' she said, not sure how to respond.

'Yeah, it's not that easy being Aunt Hermione's daughter,' I said.

'But you're Harry Potter's son. The Harry Potter. The one who saved the entire Wizarding World. Isn't that a lot harder to live up to?' she asked.

'But no one expects me to save the Wizarding World now do they? A similar situation is unlikely to arise in my life. Dad is brave, courageous and basically the epitome of a Gryffindor but no one expects me to ever achieve as much as he did simply because it isn't possible and because I don't need to. Dad, Mum, Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, your parents and hundreds of others sacrificed so much so we wouldn't have to. They made sure the world was safe for all of us. So I can never be my father and I've known that from the beginning. Sure I want to do something meaningful with my life but that doesn't mean I have to do what my father did. And what's cool about Dad is that he doesn't expect me to be him. But it's difficult for Aunt Hermione to accept anything less than excellence from Rose especially because she knows her daughter is one of the most gifted witches of our time,' I said. I felt like I was opening parts of me and my friends up to her, which is something I rarely do.

'Thanks,' she said softly. 'I do kind of get it.'

'Well your Dad's a war hero too. Isn't that pressure?' I asked.

'A little,' she said thinking. 'But not because of what he did during the war. It's more because I feel like I have to be as good of a person as him.'

'Does he still show you the galleon and tell you about Dumbledore's Army?' I asked, grinning. When we were younger if we ever had a free Herbology class a bunch of us would sit around Uncle Neville's desk and he would get out his galleon and tell us DA stories. They were different from the ones my Dad told me. I also knew that Dad didn't like talking about the war much while Uncle Neville loved telling us about Dumbledore's Army.

'No he hasn't told me those stories in a while. I kind of miss it,' she admitted.

'We have the whole day off,' I said, impulsively grabbing her hand. 'Come on lets go.'

'I still have to do the Potions essay,' she said laughing.

'I promise I'll help you after we go to your dad,' I said.

'Fine,' she shoved her books into her bag and we ran out of the library weirdly excited.

We knocked on the door of Uncle Neville's office. He opened it.

'Hello,' he said, surprised.

'Hey Uncle Neville,' I said cheerily.

'Hi Daddy,' Ria said giving him a hug.

'Why the sudden affection?' he asked laughing.

'We want to hear stories,' she said.

'Stories?' he asked amused. 'What stories?'

'War stories,' she said.

'Okay,' he said settling down.

'No no,' she said. 'You have to get your galleon out first.'

He smiled and got the galleon out of a drawer in the desk and handed it to her. 'So which one do you want to hear?' he asked.

'The one where you, Aunt Ginny and Aunt Luna started the resistance up again,' she said.

'Sure. So it was my last year at Hogwarts and there were Death Eaters everywhere…'

I sighed happily. I felt like I was eleven again.

We finally got out by about seven. Uncle Neville told us everything. He talked about the first DA that Dad was the leader of, the battle in the Department Of Mysteries, the last year of the war, the Battle Of Hogwarts.

I walked Ria to her common room and made my way to my own. There was a happy feeling in my stomach. It went away when I saw Lorcan sitting outside our common room with a dead look in his eyes.

'What's wrong mate?' I asked worriedly.

'Why is that the first time I try to do something right it blows up in my face? I mean she was perfectly willing to screw me.'

'Is this about Arya?' I asked.

'Yeah,' he said monosyllabically.

'He's been like that for the past ten minutes,' the Fat Lady said. 'You can take him in if you want. I'll let it go just this once.'

'Thanks,' I said. '_Averto_'.

I climbed in through the portrait hole pulling Lorcan inside with me. Luckily there weren't too many people around.

'Are you okay?' Rose asked coming up to us immediately.

'Yeah I'll be fine,' he mumbled.

We went up to my dorm, which was thankfully deserted.

We sat on my bed and Lorcan put his head on Rose's lap. She stroked his hair soothingly.

'What happened,' she asked.

'It was going really well. We headed up to the Room of Requirement for a… y'know... But then I told her that I actually liked her and she ran away. Just left.'

'I'm sorry baby,' Rose said, kissing his forehead gently. 'She's a bitch. If it's any consolation I had a crap day too. Roger McLaggen has more arms than a giant squid. But you know what I have just what we need.'

Rose ran out. 'She's going to bring back at least three bottles of Firewhiskey isn't she?' I sighed.

'Probably, but I need it right now so I'm not complaining,' he said.

'She really messed you up didn't she mate?' I asked.

'It's just that I actually liked her,' he said.

'We'd better get Scor and Daemon,' I said. I quickly scribbled a note attached it to Myrcella's leg and sent her off.

Rose came back in about a minute with four bottles.

'I told Scor and Daemon to meet us at the Room of Requirement in five minutes,' I said.

'Okay. Got your cloak?' she asked.

I nodded. We got out of the common room. We hid the bottles under the cloak so no one would catch us.

Scor and Daemon were already standing outside. We quickly walked past it thrice. The room had dim lights and a bunch of cushions on the floor. There was one table with exactly five glasses on it.

'Okay who has to stay sober?' Scor asked.

'Not me or Lorcan,' Rose said. 'I had a terrible date.'

'Told you so,' Daemon smirked. 'McLaggen's a git.'

'I get to drink 'cause I haven't had sex in three weeks,' Scorpius said.

'I get to drink because I had to deal with a sulky Scorpius on my day off,' Daemon said firmly. 'He was fine till we got to the Three Broomsticks and then…'

Scorpius gave him a warning look.

'And then what?' I asked, curious.

'Andrea the barmaid wouldn't even look at him. He's realized his appeal's wearing off and that's making him crabby,' Daemon joked.

'Fine I guess it's me this time,' I said grumpily. Looking after your drunk friends is not much fun.

'Aww poor Al,' Rose said, laughing at my expression. 'You can have a couple, I'm sure we'll be fine.'

Except a couple turned into a fair few and I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. I looked at the time and groaned. I had missed breakfast.

**a/n: So this was only Albus. I was going to put in either a Rose or Lily/Scorpius chapter but it just became too long. So I guess you have to wait till tomorrow. Please tell me what you think of this. I know I billed it as an Al/OC fic and there's actually everyone in this story so I'm sorry if that misled you. Oh and tell me which couples you like most, I'd really like to know. Please revieww. Reviews inspire me. I actually feel so happy when I see a bunch of mails saying people've reviewed. This one doesn't seem to be as popular as my last one but I personally like this story way more. So I'm not going to be one of those writers who say you must review or you won't get another chapter because I really like writing this story. But I would really like it if you did review. Okay now my little rant is over. Hope you liked the chapter :) **


	10. Chapter 10

SCORPIUS

'Let's go to the kitchens,' Al said. 'We can ask the house elves to make us a hangover cure.'

I groaned. I hate getting drunk in school. I just really needed it last night. Lily Potter invaded my thoughts. Every time I tried chatting up a girl I would see her face. And she had a boyfriend. She obviously wasn't interested and even if she was I couldn't do anything because she was Al's sister.

We went to the kitchens and the house elves gave us large amounts of food and a fairly good hangover cure.

'I'm going back to my common room,' Daemon said 'I have large quantities of homework to do. Now since I'm not as brilliant as you lot I need to get started now.'

'I'll come with you,' I said.

We headed down to the common room. I like my common room. Everyone thinks it's dank and depressing but it's home. I also think it's very cool that we live under the lake.

'So what's going on with you and the lovely Miss Lily,' he asked jokingly but I noticed a little worry in his voice.

'Nothing nothing. She has a boyfriend,' I said

'Like that's ever stopped you before,' he scoffed.

'Yeah but she's Al's sister,' I said. 'It would just be wrong.'

'I'm kind of impressed Scor,' he said. 'You're actually thinking with your head and not your dick.'

'It's not even like that. Sure I would like to-'

'Spare me the details,' he said cutting me off.

'But that's the thing. I like her because she's funny and smart and-'

'Doesn't take any crap from you?' he asked wryly.

'Yeah. I mean if I just wanted sex I could get it from pretty much anywhere,' I said.

'Oh you have to be one of the most modest people I have ever met,' he said laughing.

'What you know it's true,' I said.

'Yeah yeah. Everyone throws themselves at you. Boys, girls, pygmy puffs they all want Scorpius Malfoy,' he said.

'Oi just because you've never been able to get anyone into bed doesn't mean having sex is a bad thing,' I said.

'There you err my friend. I could've gotten plenty of people into bed I just choose not to have random sex,' he said.

'Please you've had plenty of girlfriends are you saying that you _chose _not have sex with all of them?' I asked.

'Yeah, it just didn't feel right,' he answered.

'What are you waiting till your wedding night?' I asked.

'No I'm waiting for the right person.'

'Merlin you sound like a girl,' I said.

'It's better than climbing into bed with anyone who'll open her legs for me,' he shot back. 'I'm surprised you haven't caught an STD yet.'

'I'm very careful. And I haven't had sex in three weeks.'

'Do you want me to give you a prize?' he asked sarcastically.

That effectively shut me up and we started doing homework.

'Don't mess with Al's sister Scor. It's not worth it,' he said after a while.

'I know,' I sighed.

ARIANA

'Where were you last night?' I asked Arya at lunch. I hadn't seen her at dinner or in the common room and I was a little worried.

'I went to my dorm. Didn't really feel like talking to anyone,' she said. She looked terrible. Her hair was a mess and she looked tired. 'I'm fine,' she added seeing my expression.

'Okay,' I said. 'I'm glad you're okay. I was worried.'

'Do I push people away?' she asked out of the blue. 'I mean I have you right? I have Quidditch. What more do I need?'

'Does this have to do with your date?' I asked. 'Did Lorcan say something to upset you? I swear I'll kill him if he did.'

'He didn't do anything. He told me he liked me and I told him I didn't want a relationship. I mean you know the only reason I went out with him is because I haven't gotten any in a while,' she said. 'And I thought he was up for a bit of fun, he certainly hasn't wanted relationships with the countless other girls he's screwed. And he didn't seem too upset about Arnav so I figured that was all he wanted from me.'

'Slow down. You and Arnav Corner? When did that happen?' I asked.

She blushed. 'It was nothing. Just casual sex.'

'You were having sex with someone and you didn't tell me?' I asked a little hurt.

'You woke up in Albus Potters bed and didn't tell me,' she said harshly, 'so I guess we're even then.'

'This isn't some sort of competition,' I said. 'I didn't tell anyone because I was embarrassed. How do you know anyway?'

'Rose. Though I don't think we'll be talking much anymore,' she said. 'The Wolf Pack protects it's own right?'

I shivered slightly. I didn't envy Arya in the least. Rose not only protected her own but actively fought for them. I would hate to have Rose's full fury unleashed on me. The little bits I had been getting over the years was more than enough.

'Don't worry. I'm sure we can weather the storms of Rose's anger,' I said trying to make a joke out of it.

'I'm not worried about Rose,' she said dismissively.

'Are you sure? Remember what happened to Holly Turner?' I asked.

She paled visibly. Holly Turner was Al's last girlfriend. She cheated on him so Rose had charmed all her belongings to shout words like 'slag' and 'whore' out at random times. I think she transferred to Beauxbatons.

'Anyway lets not talk about that. How was your day? Did you get any work done?' she asked.

'Not really I just sort of spent the day with Al,' I said pushing the last half of the sentence out really quick hoping she wouldn't notice.

'Albus Potter huh?' she asked raising one eyebrow.

'Yes Albus Potter. We're friends, you know that,' I said.

'Ria you haven't talked to Albus Potter properly for at least six years now. I mean with the obvious exception of the day you woke up in his bed and knowing you, you probably just mumbled something awkwardly and left. So what's going on?' Damn that girl knew me way too well.

'I don't fancy him, I just like being around him. He makes me feel happy. It's our last year at Hogwarts and I'm scared. Being with Al reminds of a time when all I had to worry about was what house I'd be put in,' I explained.

She just pursed her lips looking a little like my great-grandmother. 'I hope you know what you're doing because it's Albus Potter. He's not the sweet, slightly insecure first year you used to know. He's changed and so have you.'

'You need to relax,' I laughed. 'Its just Al. What's the worst that could happen?'

**a/n: So this isn't as long as my chapters usually are. Incidentally my friend gave me a hilarious Jilly Cooper book to read and Lysander was the name of one of the main characters. Since I have now fallen in love with him I really wish I hadn't wade my Lysander so unattractive. But what's done is done right? Anyway hope you enjoy the chapter and please revieww :) **


	11. Chapter 11

DAEMON

Merlin why did Scor always fall for the most inappropriate girls? The last time I had seen him like this was in our fifth year. He fell in love with Caterina Lopez. She was an incredibly beautiful seventh year. Long black hair, a smooth brown complexion and a body that made jaws drop. With her thick Spanish accent and dancing brown eyes she was exotic and captivating. And boy did Scorpius fall hard. He followed her around like a puppy. And she treated him like one too. To her he was a cute distraction but nothing to be taken seriously. He didn't even care that she was screwing both him and Christopher Nott at the same time. She quickly moved on to someone with more experience and fewer inhibitions and left him shattered. It was only after that that he became closed off to everyone except us and it was also when he started his serial screwing.

'Hello babe,' someone said from behind me.

'Hi Reyna,' I said, smiling.

Reyna's my ex girlfriend. We're still really good friends though. It's difficult to not be friends with her. She's got a wide mouth that's always smiling, big blue eyes and light brown hair.

She kissed my cheek and settled down next to me at the Slytherin table.

'So what's this I hear about you getting it off with Michael Davies?' I asked teasingly. 'I didn't know brawny Quidditch players was your style.'

'I went for you didn't I?' she said, grinning.

'I may be a Quidditch player but I'm not exactly brawny. Davies's built like a horse,' I said.

'You know what they say about horses. They're very well-,' she stifled a giggle, '-endowed.'

I grimaced.

'Oh don't look at me like that. You know I would've jumped into bed with you in a heartbeat. You were so damned gentlemanly you never even asked,' she said. 'Anyway did you hear about the massive row Lily and Danny got into. The name Scorpius Malfoy cropped up fairly often.'

'I'll talk to him,' I said.

'Good 'cause Danny's a nice bloke and Scorpius is well… he's Scorpius,' she said.

'Oi he's my best friend,' I said, defending him.

'And Danny's mine. I don't want him to get hurt. And believe me it's difficult to resist Scorpius Malfoy,' she said.

'I don't quite get that. I mean he obviously doesn't give a fuck about the people he sleeps with,' I said.

'That's all part of the attraction. Every girl who jumps into bed with him thinks she can change him. Get him to be more open and less of a man-whore,' she said.

'Is that why you slept with him?' I asked. I knew she screwed him before dating me.

'Maybe. I also wanted to see what all the fuss was about and I must say he does live up to his impressive reputation,' she said.

'That's good to know,' I said dryly.

She got up and pulled me up too. 'Come on,' she said. 'We're going for a walk. I haven't talked to you properly in ages and I feel weird sitting at the Slytherin table.'

She linked her arm with mine and we walked out to the grounds. We saw Ariana and Arya sitting at the edge of the Black Lake.

'So what do you think of our new Head Girl?' she asked.

I shrugged. 'I'm ambivalent. Rose hates her, Al wants to do her, Lorcan wants to have a meaningful relationship with her best friend. So she's been a rather contentious topic of discussion lately.'

'Ah the Wolf Pack,' she said. 'How I have missed hanging out with you.'

'Is that sarcasm?' I asked laughingly.

'Well noted Mr. Zabini,' she said. 'You're all lovely people, but together you can be very intimidating.'

'I thought you didn't mind my friends,' I said, a little miffed.

'I don't. Don't even mind Rose that much though most people think she was sent from hell to punish us for our sins,' she said.

'Rose is different,' I said. 'Most people just don't get her.'

'I understand Rose perfectly,' she said. 'She's insecure because she feels she doesn't have her mother's love. She desperately wants to be a better person but can't help being extremely bitchy. She uses boys to boost her ego, not because she has a huge one but because she needs the admiration. Oh and she cares a lot about you boys and is secretly worried that you'll leave her.'

'Oh wow,' I said, a little bit stunned.

'I hung out with you for six months it's fairly easy to pick up on this stuff,' she said.

'How did you know about the mother thing?' I asked.

'It's easy. All that sniping at Ariana and the fact that she can't talk about Hermione Weasley without either breaking down or getting very angry,' she said.

'You should be some sort of psychologist,' I said looking at her in awe.

'Well I do want to be a healer. So maybe that'll happen,' she said in a very businesslike manner.

'I missed you Rey,' I said, squeezing her hand.

'Missed you too,' she said, smiling at me.

LILY

'We have to for rounds,' Scorpius said putting his hand on my shoulder.

'Scorpius,' Zabini said warningly and his hands dropped to his side.

Daniel looked at Zabini thankfully. 'She'll be over in a second,' he said authoritatively. I really hate it when he uses that tone. Scorpius just shrugged and moved away.

'I don't like him,' Daniel said. 'The way he looks at you. It just unnerves me.'

'There's nothing to worry about,' I said, rather untruthfully.

'I'm not blind Lily,' he said, almost resigned.

I sighed. 'I really want this to work Danny. You and me,' I said.

'I know you do,' he kissed me and I went to join Scorpius.

'See you later mate,' he called to Zabini's retreating backside.

'So what are we doing tonight?' I asked.

'Well since I have been warned off you by basically everyone I know it has to be something that involves clothes,' he said.

'You were planning something that didn't?' I asked.

'Maybe,' he said smirking. I couldn't even tell if he was joking or not. I pushed down an irrational wave of disappointment.

'We should probably do our rounds first,' I said, attempting to be responsible.

He nodded and we quickly finished them off.

'I have a brilliant idea,' he said.

He pulled me out to the Quidditch field. 'Have you ever played Quidditch at night?' he asked.

'No, normal people don't do that,' I said.

'Well sometimes when we can't sleep or we're just exceptionally bored we play Quidditch,' he said. I didn't need to ask who 'we' were.

'How have you not gotten caught yet? And how do you even contact each other, you're all in different houses?' I asked.

He smirked. 'We're just very quiet and as to how we contact each other well that's a secret.'

Ugh. I hate a mysterious Scorpius.

'How about you tell me how you contact each other and I'll tell you a secret of my own,' I said.

'Okay but only after the game,' he said.

He pulled a snitch out of his pocket.

'Scorpius have you been stealing Quidditch supplies?' I asked accusingly.

'Maybe,' he said, completely unrepentant.

'I still cannot fathom how you got Head Boy,' I said.

'Don't worry Lilykins neither can I,' he said laughing.

'Don't call me Lilykins,' I said. 'Or Lilypad or any other stupid nickname. It's annoying.'

'Relax Lilyp-' I whacked him on the head. He just laughed and we went to get the brooms.

There's something oddly exhilarating about playing Quidditch at night. You can barely see the snitch and the fact that you aren't supposed to be out on the pitch and have to be very quiet makes it more exciting. We chased after the snitch for about an hour. Scorpius caught it and we went to sit in the stands feeling absolutely exhausted.

'Okay now you have to tell me your secret,' he said.

'Okay but only if you tell me yours,' I said.

'Yes yes. Now tell me,' he said, impatiently.

'I have three bottles of Firewhiskey hidden under my bed,' I said.

He raised his eyebrows. 'Why?'

'Millie Donaldson's gotten caught twice already so she begged me to hide her stash. I should probably inform someone that that girls heading towards alcoholism,' I said.

He laughed. 'Okay so I guess it's my turn now.'

'Yep, spill,' I said.

'Rose put a protean charm five notebooks. Anything that's written in one of them automatically gets transferred to the others. We use them sparingly though so we mostly use owls,' he said.

'Oh that's disappointing,' I said. 'I thought you had found passageways into other common rooms.'

'Not quite there yet,' he said laughing. 'Though judging by the way Albus is pursuing your friend Ariana we might have one leading into the Ravenclaw common room very soon.'

'Well Rose'll be happy,' I said. 'She hooked up with Arnav Corner yesterday. Saw them making out near the greenhouses.'

Scorpius shrugged. 'Well at least he's a step up from McLaggen.'

'I miss Rose sometimes,' I admitted.

'You miss Rose?' he asked incredulous. 'You actively avoid her.'

'As in I miss the old Rose. The one who would help me when I fell down or sneak me dessert when I was in trouble and had to go straight to my room after dinner,' I explained.

'She's still the same person, Lils,' he said.

'Not to me she isn't,' I said.

He took me in his arms. 'She still loves you. It's just difficult for her to show it.'

'I know she loves me. I just don't think she likes me much anymore,' I said. Oh Merlin I never tell anyone any of this stuff. But there was something about Scorpius that made it seem okay to tell him.

'I like you,' he said, gently stroking my hair.

**a/n: I just realised that I have a math exam in less than a week so you might not get updates as frequently. So I hope you like this. I plan to introduce a couple of more characters. Arnav Corner's definitely going to make an appearance and might get a POV chapter. Please tell me what you think of the chapter :) **


	12. Chapter 12

ROSE

Arnav Corner was excellent in bed. I usually don't sleep with anyone on the first date and actually haven't had sex in at least a year but he really was brilliant. It's a pain being in different houses because then the only place you can have sex on a bed is the Room Of Requirement, which is all the way up on the seventh floor. Some people find a broom cupboard exciting but I just find it uncomfortable.

I don't know what it was about him He was in control but not bossy. He was sweet without being annoying and he was incredibly funny, which after being a part of the family that produced Fred Weasley and James Sirius Potter was something that I really liked.

He isn't much to look at. His skin's a lovely light brown marred by sprinklings of acne. He's only about two inched taller than me but has the most incredible body. I told him he should walk around without a shirt on all the time. He just laughed and kissed me.

I didn't tell anyone I had slept with him. They noticed something was different though. I had forgotten how much fun sex was. We spent the next three weeks sneaking off to the Room of Requirement whenever we could. My mood had improved to such an extent that I yielded to Al's persuasions and agreed to let Longbottom join us at Hogsmeade. I was going to slip off to hang out with Corner anyway so it wasn't like I was going to be there the whole time. Al had decided never to have Quidditch practices on Hogsmeade weekends since it just made everyone crabby and they played like absolute shit anyway.

We walked down to the village. Daemon had his arm slung around my shoulders and was telling me some ridiculous joke about a vampire, a hag and a goblin. Lorcan wasn't letting Al talk to Ariana at all. He was just grilling her about Arya. Scorpius was just ambling along, lost in his own thoughts. I spotted Lily walking with her boyfriend, looking rather unhappy. Scorpius waved at her and her face lit up immediately. She dragged her boyfriend who was now the one looking unhappy and came to walk with us.

'Read your mum's article yesterday,' he said. 'It was hilarious. She really had a go at that ridiculously annoying Magpies coach.'

Lily grinned. 'He tried to make a pass at her when he worked at the Harpies and she had just started there. Thought she was a young vulnerable Quidditch player. Notion was quickly dispelled when he ended up upside down in mid-air in the middle of the pitch with no pants. No one messes with Mum. He tried to get her fired but the rest of the committee were tired of him so he got fired instead. They said they couldn't afford to lose a player as talented as Mum.'

'I like your mum,' Scorpius said in splits.

'She likes you too. You should've heard her after you got Head Boy. She was more proud of you than me,' Lily said.

I felt like yelling at her. No her mother wasn't more proud of Scorpius than her because Lily's mum loved her more than anyone and was proud of her no matter what. It was my mum that wanted someone else's daughter.

I noticed Welbeck awkwardly watching his girlfriend and the boy she obviously had feelings for talk. I started flirting with him shamelessly and thankful that someone was at least paying attention to him he flirted back. Lily soon noticed and her expression grew darker. I wasn't actually going to do anything I mean I'm not a complete slag but Lily didn't need to know that did she?

'Can I talk to you Rose?' Scorpius said, cutting off our conversation.

He waited till we were a fair distance from Lily and turned on me.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' he asked angrily.

'Whatever do you mean Scor?' I asked innocently.

'Please don't act stupid. Why were you throwing yourself at that boy,' He said the word boy with such contempt.

'Like you were any better. You were basically undressing her with your eyes,' I snapped.

'Why are you always so damned bloody? She just wants to be accepted by you,' he asked, completely ignoring my last statement.

'I'm bloody?' I asked incredulously. 'At least I don't use people for a night and throw them away.'

'I'm trying to change,' he said. 'You're so hung up on yourself and the fact that mummy doesn't love you, you can't even see that you're pushing people who love you away.'

I felt like someone had slapped. Scorpius immediately took me in his arms.

'I'm so sorry Rose,' he said. 'I crossed a line.'

I pushed him away and ran as fast as I could. Tears ran down my face as I desperately searched for Arnav. I spotted him in The Three Broomsticks. He was sitting with Arya Thomas. I walked in. He took one look at me and gathered me up in his arms. I sobbed onto his shoulder.

'What happened baby?' he asked worriedly. He calmed me down enough for me to tell him the whole story.

Arya watched us in fascination. 'So this is why you didn't want to start us up again?' she asked sounding a little miffed.

I glared at her. She had been terrible to Lorcan. Realizing that she wasn't wanted, she left quickly. I frowned at her retreating backside.

'Careful,' Arnav said kissing the tip of my nose. 'Your face'll get stuck like that.'

I snuggled up to him. 'Do you want to go back to the castle?' I asked. 'I know a shortcut to the Room of Requirement.'

'You're upset,' he said. 'I don't want to take advantage of you. And besides sex is always more fun when you're happy.'

'So you and Thomas?' I asked, unable to keep the jealous note out of my voice.

'Over long ago,' he said firmly. 'I like you Rose. And I know you're a good person.'

'So this isn't just sex?' I asked, a little surprised.

'It's whatever you want it to be,' he said smiling.

'I need to apologize to Lily don't I?' I asked sighing.

'Well from what I've heard you've tried your level best to make her life hell for the last couple of years so that might be a good idea.'

LORCAN

'That was out of order,' Daemon said quietly.

'I know,' Scorpius said, sounding anguished. He adores Rose.

'You need to apologize,' Al said.

Ariana just looked vaguely uncomfortable. 'I'm going to go look for Arya,' she whispered to Al.

We looked for Rose everywhere but we couldn't find her.

'Looking for your whore?' McLaggen called when we walked into the Three Broomsticks. 'Since she was draped over Corner you might have to wait if you want a fuck.'

Daemon immediately walked up to him and smashed his fist into his jaw. McLaggen threw a punch at his eye, whipped out his wand and shot a jet of red light at Daemon's face which he only just managed to avoid. We all took our wands out and so did his disgusting friends, Drew Collins, Andrew McCauley and Kevin Gilbert.

'Take this outside,' Andrea yelled.

'Shut up you stupid bitch. You need to learn where your place is,' McLaggen sneered.

Horrified by him the other customers kicked us all out.

'I hope you're happy,' I snarled. 'You upset Andrea. You bastard.'

'_Densaugeo' _he shouted aiming at me.

'_Protego' _I shouted blocking it.

He aimed a curse at Daemon who avoided it and threw one back at him. Albus was dueling both Gilbert and McCauley while Scorpius dealt with Collins. Al wasn't doing so badly but I could see his reflexes slowing as spells hit him from both sides. Leaving Daemon to handle McLaggen, I threw a bat-bogey hex at Gilbert. Aunt Ginny was my godmother and she had taught me well.

'_Petrificus Totalus_,' Albus yelled and McCauley became as stiff as a board.

'_Impedimenta' _Scorpius shouted, causing Collins to fall face first into the ground.

Seeing he was hopelessly outnumbered McLaggen tried to run away but Daemon threw a leg-locker curse at him before he got very far. Stepping over them we went back into the pub. Andrea gave us free butterbeers and kissed us all on the cheek.

'Those idiots aren't ever allowed back in here,' she said. 'And if I ever need a knight in shining armour I know whom to call.'

'More like a knight with a shiner,' Scorpius sniggered. Daemon had a huge black eye.

'Oh shh,' she said and fussed over Daemon, getting him ice for his eye and giving him an extra butterbeer. 'Rose was in here earlier though,' she said. 'She was in a terrible state. She left with the nice looking boy who comforted her.'

'I knew she snogged him but I didn't know they were that serious,' Scorpius said surprised.

'She's been hooking up with Corner?' I asked slightly annoyed. I did not like that bloke.

'Apparently,' Al said.

'When did we start keeping secrets from each other?' Daemon asked.

'I dunno,' Scorpius mumbled, looking rather ashamed.

We used the passage through Honeydukes to get to the castle and since Al had his invisibility cloak it was easy getting past the owner. We've all grown a fair bit since our first year so you could see a large portion of our legs under the cloak but it still worked.

'Don't push Ria,' I heard someone say from behind us.

'What are they doing here?' Scorpius hissed. 'And how do they know about the passage way?'

I blushed a deep red.

'Lorcan you idiot,' Al said whacking me on the head. 'It's supposed to be a secret.'

'Sorry, I just really wanted to get back to the castle that day,' I said mentally kicking myself.

Albus quickly cheered up when Ariana tripped and fell straight on to him.

'Got you love,' he said holding her.

'Oh get a room you two,' Arya said acidly.

We continued on to the school tumbling out of the statue of the one eyed witch.

'Oh I just remembered,' Al said smacking his head dramatically. 'Mum sent me an old photo album and it's got loads of pictures of your dad. Mum said that Rupert Creevey's uncle, the one who died in the battle, took most of the pictures. She told me to show it to you.' He quickly led her away.

'Could I talk to you alone?' Arya asked quietly.

I nodded in assent. Scor and Daemon looked at me to see if I was okay with them leaving. I kept my face blank. They left slowly, unsure of what to do.

'I just had to apologize,' she said, when they left.

I looked at her without saying anything.

'I didn't mean to hurt you and what I did was wrong. I'd really like to be friends though,' she said, holding her hand out.

'Friends,' I said taking it. Well it was better than nothing.

**a/n: I just realised that the minute I get any reviews I feel compelled to update even though I should be studying. It's quite sad really. But anyway I hope you liked this. I wrote it at about three in the morning so forgive the errors. Please revieww.**


	13. Chapter 13

LILY

I had had a terrible day. After we left Scorpius and Rose I had engaged in a shouting match with my boyfriend. What made it worse was that I knew I was wrong. Though after the way he responded to Rose's attentions I did fell slightly less guilty. But I honestly didn't know what to do. The right thing to do would've been to break up with him and let him move on but I couldn't. So much effort had gone into getting him, I didn't want it all to be for naught. So I just yelled at him, hoping Scorpius Malfoy was just a phase. A bug I needed to get out of my system.

'He's my brother's best friend,' I screamed. 'There's nothing going on.'

'Are you sure because you seem pretty friendly lately,' he yelled back. 'I hate Mondays because you go off for rounds with a huge smile on your face and I know it's him that's put it there.'

'Are you fucking kidding me? I would never cheat on you,' I shouted.

'How do I know that? He hasn't exactly got a spotless reputation and he's had no qualms about taking girls off their boyfriends before. And he had two girls in your bed for Merlin's sake,' he yelled.

'You can't talk. You were practically drooling over Rose,' I shouted.

'No I wasn't. I was just glad someone was paying me attention,' he said, suddenly very quiet.

I touched his face. 'I wanted this to work so badly,' I said softly. 'At this time last year I was desperately hoping you would break it off with your girlfriend and profess your undying love for me.'

'I wanted it to work too,' he said. 'But it's obviously not is it? Every time he touches you Lily I feel such intense rage and I hate feeling like that.'

'I'm sorry,' I said, tears running down my face. 'You're a really nice guy and I really like you.'

'It's over isn't it?' he asked.

I just nodded, unable to speak. He kissed my forehead and turned around to walk back to the castle. I just continued on till Hogsmeade. I saw my brother, Daemon, Lorcan and Scorpius dueling with a couple of people outside The Three Broomsticks and made sure to avoid that place. After a drink at the Hog's Head (I ordered Firewhiskey the bartender's an old, extremely disreputable friend of the family) I made my way back to the school. I went straight to the Gryffindor common room. Rose was sitting on the couch.

'Lily,' she said. 'I have to talk to you.'

'I'm really not in the mood right now Rose,' I said, and walked straight up to my dormitory.

She followed me. 'I just wanted to apologize,' she said. 'I've been awful to you.'

I turned to her. 'You have done everything you possibly could to humiliate me and you really think an apology's going to make it all better?'

She looked shattered. 'I was jealous,' she said quietly.

'Why?' I asked. 'Why would you ever be jealous of me? You're gorgeous and incredibly smart.'

'It's because everyone approves of you. Mum would be thrilled to have you as a daughter.' I heard bitterness creep into her voice.

I looked at her stunned. Rose always seemed so confident. It was odd to see her like this. I had never seen her cry before and it felt weird. It was like watching something slowly crumble. Then came the deep heart-wrenching sobs. I never knew Rose could make a sound like that. I held her just hoping she would stop. It scared me. One thing I had always admired about Rose was her strength; it was unnerving to realize that she was as insecure as the rest of us. I started crying too. It had been a weird day.

'Oh Rosie, I messed up,' I said once we had calmed down.

'What did you do?' she asked.

'I broke up with Danny,' I said, 'and I don't know if it was the right thing to do.'

'It was the right thing to do,' she said firmly. 'You were making each other miserable. I saw how you looked at Scorpius and so did he.'

'It's just that he's such a nice guy and I feel terrible but I can't help liking Scorpius,' I said.

'If it's any consolation Scorpius feels the same way about you. He bawled me out for being such a bitch,' she said. 'But you also have to know that he can't do anything about it because you're Albus's sister.'

'I know,' I said, feeling like I was going to burst into tears again.

She hugged me. 'You'll get over him, I promise,' she said soothingly.

'I don't want it to though,' I admitted. 'I like feeling this way. He makes me feel so alive.'

'Well he is supposed to be really good in bed. But I don't think it's worth it,' she said rather matter-of-factly.

'I wasn't even thinking of that,' I said blushing. 'I don't plan to have sex with anyone soon.'

'I'm sure you aren't,' she said smirking.

'Fine fine. Enough about me. What's going on with you and Corner?' I asked, poking her stomach.

'I like him,' she said, her eyes softening. 'He's nice. And rather good in bed.'

'You've slept with him already?' I asked, a little shocked.

She nodded.

'I didn't know you had slept with anyone,' I said, knowing I sounded like a prude.

She just laughed. 'I lost my virginity about two years ago Lil. It was entirely unsatisfying and we broke up a week later. It took me at least six months till I was willing to try again.'

'I just never realized…' I trailed off.

'Well I don't exactly boast about it at family dinners,' she said. 'And we haven't really talked much in the last couple of years.'

'Yeah, I guess,' I said, feeling a little uncomfortable.

'You're such an innocent,' she said. 'I hope Scorpius doesn't ruin you.'

ARIANA

Arya had told me about Rose's breakdown in the pub and I felt really sorry for her especially after seeing the beginning of it. Even though Rose is an absolute bitch everyone feels this unaccountable need to protect her. It's like you'd rather she was bitchy than sad. So I cheered along with the most of the school when Scorpius set off a firework in the Great Hall at breakfast which, after making a great deal of noise spelled out 'I'M SORRY ROSE. PLEASE FORGIVE ME' in large letters.

She stumbled over to the Slytherin table and hugged him for ages. Then the five of them walked through the hall laughing and joking. Rose and Scorpius were still holding on to each other and I realized with shock that this must've been the first real fight in their group. I was struck by their beauty too. They were all so attractive it almost hurt to look at them. Rose looked over to the Ravenclaw table and finding Arnav gave him a huge smile. I noticed Arya's sudden intake of breath. She had obviously seen it too.

'I hate her,' she said with sudden venom.

I looked at her, unable to keep the pity out of my eyes. 'Rose's relationships never last very long,' I said comfortingly. 'I'm sure she'll be done with him by Christmas.'

'You didn't see them yesterday,' she said despairingly.

I saw Lily sitting with her friends but staring at Scorpius with such an obvious look of longing that she may as well have gotten up and yelled it to the whole hall. I went to join her.

'Come on,' I said. 'You look like you could use some air.'

We walked to the lake and collapsed under a tree. She sighed.

'So Scorpius?' I asked.

'Is it that obvious?' she asked blushing.

'Yes. It's a wonder Al hasn't picked up on it yet,' I said.

'That's because you all his thoughts are on you,' she said.

'Don't be silly,' I said. 'We're friends, that's it.'

She just grinned. 'I made up with Rose last night,' she said tentatively.

'That's good,' I said, unsure of how to react.

She impulsively hugged me. 'I really think Rosie's trying to be nicer and it feels good to have my cousin back.'

Eager to get off the topic of Rose who I think we all talked about far too much I asked Lily what she was doing for her birthday which was only a week away.

'I dunno. Not much you can do on a Thursday night really,' she said shrugging. 'And besides sixteen isn't a particularly important birthday. Next year's the one to look forward to.'

After about an hour or so we went back to the castle. I had left Arya at breakfast today so she probably wasn't too happy with me. I went to the loo to freshen up. I was not expecting mass panic outside the bathroom.

'Rosie please come out,' Al shouted banging on the door.

'We'll get the bastard that did it just come out and talk to us,' Scorpius said.

'What's going on?' I asked.

'Can you please go get her out?' Daemon asked. 'She's in there crying.'

There was quite a crowd gathered outside the bathroom. The boys weren't letting anyone else in worried that they might upset Rose more.

I went inside and saw a very different Rose from the one at breakfast. She looked broken. That was actually the only word for it. Her eyes were red and swollen and her eyeliner had run down the side of her face.

'Rose what happened?' I asked softly.

She looked at me with dead eyes and held up a piece of paper.

**a/n: So I'll try to get the rest up as soon as possible but it may take a while. It'll definitely be up by Saturday though. Oh and the next one's gonna be from Rose and Albus's POVs. You said you wanted drama so this is the best I can do. ****So I hope you liked this chapter and please please revieww. Reviews inspire me. And I just realized that this story's longer than any of my other one********s so I'm kinda proud. Anyway you're probably bored by my stupid long author's notes so I'll just stop. Oh and the extremely old, disreputable friend of the family is Mundungus Fletcher. I thought he'd be the type to open a bar in his old age :P **


	14. Chapter 14

ROSE

I was feeling so incredibly happy. All was right with the world. Clinging on to Scorpius we walked out of the hall. Daemon, thrilled that no one was fighting set off a couple of fireworks in celebration. Then as we walked past the notice board his face dropped. He quickly tried to pull whatever it was down but another one appeared.

'Rose don't,' he said sounding anguished when I went to take a closer look.

Still hanging on to Scorpius I saw the poster and I felt like someone had poured a bucket of ice on head. There was an odd ringing in my ears that blocked out noise. I barely heard Scorpius's growl of rage. Albus, Daemon and Lorcan desperately tried to pull the poster off but every time they did another one just took its place. Scorpius tried to go help them but I held his arm in a vice-like grip and refused to let go. When I noticed I was cutting off his blood circulation I let go and ran. As I ran I saw posters coming up everywhere. I tore as many down as I could but it didn't even work. I fled to the bathroom, still holding one. I looked at the disgusting picture in my hand. It was a picture of completely me completely naked. Well that was my head at least but I knew for sure it wasn't my body. It was a muggle picture because it didn't move but that didn't make it any less gross. I started crying. The fact that it could set me off like this scared me. I'd always thought I didn't care about what everyone thought of me but really didn't want anyone to see this. I mean I had been called a slut plenty of times but this just felt so disgustingly dirty.

The boys started banging on the door. I didn't even have the energy to get up and go to them. I just kept sobbing into my robes. After nearly an hour I was all cried out but I still didn't leave the loo. I didn't want to face anyone. Lorcan, Scor, Daemon and Albus continued hammering on the door and from what I could hear, quite a crowd had gathered outside the bathroom. My boys were probably keeping them out.

Suddenly I heard a soft voice asking 'Rose what happened?'

I looked up to see Ariana Longbottom. I held up the piece of paper and she took it. I heard her gasp of shock.

'I'm so sorry Rose,' she said.

'I know people don't like me much but I didn't think anyone hated me enough to do something like that,' I said.

'This is not your fault okay?' Whoever did this is absolutely disgusting,' she said firmly.

'Why are you being so nice to me?' I asked.

'Because I know you're a good person and no one deserves to have something like this happen to them,' she said.

She held out her hand and I took it. She pulled me off the floor. 'Come on. Those boys outside are crazy with worry.'

'I still don't like you,' I said rather half-heartedly so she knew I wasn't being serious.

'I know,' she said smiling at me.

We walked out of the loo and I fell into Albus's arms.

'Don't worry Rosie,' he murmured. 'We've always got your back.'

Daemon scooped me up and carried me down the corridor. The pictures were still on the walls so I shut my eyes tightly.

'Rose?' I heard someone ask. I opened my eyes and saw Arnav standing in front of me. Daemon gently put me down.

'Arnav,' I said, hoping desperately that he wasn't angry. I shouldn't have worried.

He just held his hand out and I took it. 'I'm going to get the arsehole that did this,' he said. I held Arnav's hand while everyone else formed a barricade around us. They walked me to my common room and Albus helped me in. Lily was sitting on the couch.

'I'm so sorry Rosie,' she said rushing up to me the minute I stumbled in through the portrait hole. She hugged me and I felt weirdly safe.

'I'm going to help the others figure out how to get them down,' Al said. 'Will you be okay?'

I nodded. Lily tightened her hold around me. 'I'll take care of her,' she said.

After Al left Lily started talking about other things like Quidditch and music to try and distract me but I barely responded.

'Rose do you want me to write to your mum?' she asked.

'No,' I said vehemently.

'School will probably write in any case and you need your mother now,' she said.

'Mum's really busy. She won't have time to come here anyway,' I said trying to dissuade her. 'What's the point of worrying her?'

Lily didn't look convinced but she let it drop.

ALBUS

I was so angry I could barely see straight. We had tried everything and still the damned pictures wouldn't come off the walls.

'What's going on here?' I heard someone ask. Professor Longbottom looked at the pictures, his rage thinly concealed. 'Who did this to that poor girl?' he asked.

'We don't know Dad,' Ria said. She was also trying to get the pictures off.

Uncle Neville just waved his wand and the pictures disappeared.

'Thanks,' I said. 'We didn't know how to do it.'

'Ron's going to blow a fuse,' Uncle Neville said. 'We have to tell her parents before the press get ahold of it.'

'Wait,' Scorpius said. 'You need to ask Rose before writing to her mum. She'll get even more upset if her mum shows up when she isn't expecting her.'

'I'm afraid I have to tell her parents Scorpius,' he said. 'It's the school's duty.'

'Dad,' Ria said pleadingly. 'She's already messed up. We'll get her to tell her mum.'

'Fine, you have till tomorrow to get her to write. I know this is difficult for her but if I don't send the letter someone else will and I know Ron and Hermione would hate it if I didn't tell them.'

He walked away. 'You know it's going to basically be impossible to convince Rose to write right?' I told Ria.

'I know,' she sighed. 'But she seemed so upset and you told me about her relationship with her mum. At least this'll buy us some time.'

'We have to figure out who did it,' Lorcan said.

'We couldn't even get the pictures off how on earth are we going to figure out who put them there?' Corner asked. He had spent the last hour trying to get the pictures off the walls. Lorcan disliked him intensely but he seemed to be a good bloke. None of Rose's other boyfriends seemed to care quite as much.

'What we really need to do is to make sure no one tell that disgusting old hag Rita Skeeter any of this,' Daemon said practically. 'She's always had it in for Rose and her mum. It would be like an early Christmas for her if she finds out about this. You know she'll make it seem like it was Rose's fault.'

'That's easier said than done,' Scorpius said. 'At least a hundred people saw that picture. It's probably already on it's way to the Daily Prophet right now.'

I knew he was probably right. That gave us even less time to convince Rose to tell her parents and get them to hush it up. Though the Second Wizarding War had finished twenty-six years ago our parents were still fairly influential members of the Wizarding community.

I quickly made my way back to the common room and the Fat Lady who had heard about the pictures from another portrait agreed to let us all in. Ariana being the only girl went up to the dormitory to get Rose and Lily. I thought it was quite ironic that they stairs allowed a girl from a different house up but no boys were allowed. Rose looked a lot better when she came down.

'Rose,' Scorpius said seriously. 'We have to tell your mum and dad about this. You know they'll want to know before it comes out in the tabloids and they can help cover it up.'

Rose's face dropped. 'I don't want to tell mum,' she said stubbornly.

'Uncle Neville said he was going to tell them anyway and the sooner we tell them the sooner we can get past it,' Lorcan said trying to convince her.

'You know Aunt Hermione'll be completely supportive right?' I said. 'She loves you Rosie and only wants what's best for you.'

'It's just so embarrassing,' she said, tears leaking out of her eyes. I had never seen Rose like this before. It was scary seeing her so vulnerable.

'How about I tell her,' I said. 'I'll ask Uncle Neville if I can floo there. That way I can explain it to her properly.'

Rose nodded. 'Can you tell Dad first?' she asked. 'If it's possible.'

'I'll try my best,' I said.

I quickly went to Uncle Neville's office before she could change her mind. He was grading a bunch of papers.

'Did she write?' he asked.

'No but she said I could tell her parents in person. So could I please use your fire?' I asked.

'It is a little unorthodox. I mean students aren't supposed to leave school but I suppose this is an unorthodox situation,' he sighed. 'Okay you can go. Give Ron and Hermione my best and tell them I'm sorry I wasn't able to prevent something like this happening. Maybe it's best you actually went there and didn't just send your head.'

'Number twelve, Denton Road, Ottery St. Catchpole.' I said throwing floo powder into the fire.

I walked out of Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron's fireplace a second later.

'Uncle Ron,' I called. 'Aunt Hermione?'

'Albus?' Uncle Ron asked in disbelief, walking out of his bedroom, pulling on a dressing gown.

Aunt Hermione followed also pulling on a dressing gown and blushing bright red. Oh Merlin.

'I'm sorry I interrupted you,' I said, blushing too. Damn my Weasley genes. My ears always get really red when I'm embarrassed.

'What are you doing here?' Aunt Hermione asked, sitting down at the table.

'Something kind of bad happened,' I said carefully.

'What happened?' Uncle Ron asked worriedly.

'Some played a really mean practical joke on Rose. They put her head onto someone else's body and put the pictures all over the school,' I said blushing even redder.

'That's not so bad,' Uncle Ron said.

'Someone else's naked body,' I almost whispered, dying of embarrassment.

'What?' Uncle Ron bellowed. 'I'm going to kill the fucker.'

'Ron language,' Aunt Hermione said almost mechanically. She looked shocked.

'Well you'll have to get in line,' I said dryly. 'Whoever did it must have a death wish.'

'Is she okay?' Aunt Hermione whispered, horrified.

'She's being taken care of,' I said evasively. If Aunt Hermione knew how torn up Rose was about this she would insist on coming and I knew Rose didn't want that.

'Should I come,' she asked.

'No I think she needs space,' I said.

Aunt Hermione nodded. Her face was pale.

'We need your help though dealing with the press,' I said. Particularly Rita Skeeter. She has it in for Rose.'

'That's my fault,' Aunt Hermione said. 'Can you please tell Rose how sorry I am.'

Uncle Ron who was still too shocked to talk opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

'We need to get Ginny, she has contacts at the Daily Prophet,' Aunt Hermione said.

She threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace, said 'Ginevra Potter,' and my address. Mum appeared a couple of seconds later.

'You just caught me,' she said, dusting ash off her robes. 'I was going to-' she stopped short. 'Al what are you doing here?' she asked.

Aunt Hermione quickly filled her in. Mum got angrier and angrier by the second.

'Of course I'll do what ever I can,' she said to Aunt Hermione. 'You better get the idiot who did this Al,' she whispered to me before she left. 'Give him a good bat-bogey hex from me before he gets expelled.'

**a/n: I hope you liked this chapter. Please revieww :) **


	15. Chapter 15

LILY

It was scary how different Rose was. She was subdued. I hate to say this but I kind of liked the new Rose. We grew a lot closer over the next couple of weeks and she finally stopped being an absolute bitch to Ariana. Didn't exactly become her best friend but was a lot nicer. No one knew who had done it but I think Rose was moving past it quite nicely. Hugo got a lot of crap from a lot of different people. He got detention for three weeks after hexing Robert Smith because he had yelled 'Nice tits,' at Rose from across the hall.

While my relationship with Rose improved dramatically my relationship with Scorpius became practically non-existent. While on rounds there was always at least four feet between us and there where no more midnight swims or Quidditch games. I think Rose had told him to lay off. Though this was probably done with the best intentions I couldn't help but feel a tiny twinge of annoyance.

The months passed and they piled more and more homework on us. I was actually dying so winter break was something I was really looking forward to. That is until I heard Scorpius was joining us. I don't know why I was surprised; I mean he rarely spent Christmas at his own house. I nearly groaned when Rose told me. It's like having a really large, delicious piece of chocolate cake in front of your face and not being allowed to eat it. Rose would obviously be there too and since the Wolf Pack really couldn't stay away from each other I knew my brother's friends would be invading my house. Daemon was going home for Christmas since his relationship with his parents though quite strained was nowhere near as bad as Scorpius's with his Dad. Lorcan lived right next door and since his Mum was basically family, he practically lived in our house anyway.

The first night at the burrow was rather eventful. My family is massive. Weasleys breed like rabbits. They also live for a fairly long time. My Merlin-knows-how-many-greats Aunt Muriel was still hanging around. She looked a little like a cadaver now but didn't show any signs of dying. She has to be about a hundred and thirty at least. The last time we had seen her was at Teddy and Vic's wedding. She sat in the back and made rude comments about everyone. On the other end of the spectrum there was the new addition to the family John Harry Lupin. Johnny was a year old and had just learnt how to walk. Mum had been waiting for the day and had gotten him a toy broom, reasoning if he could now walk he could also fly. My family's bats I tell you.

I was also really excited because my cousin Louis was going to spend Christmas with us and not in France. Louis is definitely one of my favourite people. With his golden blonde hair and big blue eyes he looks angelic. Nothing could be further from the truth. His aim in life is to shock as many people as possible with his behavior. He spends most of his holidays in France and therefore speaks fluent French. He also swings in every way possible, girls, boys, anything with working genitalia really. He's a lot of fun.

So anyway we had nearly forty people at dinner since the Scamanders, Longbottoms and Daemon joined us. They put the three long tables outside and heated the place up. We're so lucky we're wizards, I don't know how muggles survive. I got to sit across Louis and in-between my two lovely brothers. James's always taking the mickey out of me but we're really close. James's other half and also my cousin is Fred Weasley. They have black hair, brown eyes and identical smiles. They also run Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes with Uncle George. Two seats down from Louis was the person I was desperately trying not to care about.

Daemon and Ariana were on either side of Louis. Daemon was fending off Louis's advances good-naturedly but every time Louis flirted with Ariana she would blush a bright red. I could see Albus getting more and more upset as dinner progressed.

'So Lils,' James said teasingly. 'Heard you dumped that little pouf Welbeck. I'm hurt you didn't tell me.'

'I didn't even tell you we were dating,' I said. 'Why on earth would I tell you I had dumped him? And how do you know anyway?' I asked.

'There was an article in the Daily Prophet. "Littlest Potter's All Grown Up". Full of absolute crap. Another Rita Skeeter special.'

'Hate that stupid bitch. Mum had to lean really hard on the editor to stop them publishing the article about Rose.' I lowered my voice so no on else could hear.

'Heard about that. Mum was raging. She threatened to resign,' he said.

'Really? But she loves her job,' I said.

'Yeah but that idiot Romilda Vane's taken over the paper and she's driving Mum mad. She keeps trying to cut the Sports coverage. And she's still a little soft on Dad so she makes Mum's life hell,' he said.

'Look at Al's face,' I whispered. Al had turned an angry red colour because Louis had kissed Ariana's hand and she giggled. I don't think I've ever heard her giggle. Louis had obviously given up on Daemon.

'Wow he looks like he's going to explode,' James said. 'Does he like her?'

I looked at him surprised he hadn't heard about the disastrous party. News usually travels so fast in my family. 'He woke up in bed with her,' I giggled. 'But they didn't have sex. They literally just slept with each other.'

'Ah now I get all the not-so-subtle comments Dad's been making,' he said.

'Poor boy,' I said.' It's the first time he's liked a girl who doesn't seem to care as much about him.'

'He'll get over it,' James said shrugging. 'I mean he had to figure out some day that he was the less attractive Potter brother.'

I whacked James. 'Please you aren't exactly wonderful to look at either.' Unfortunately both of us knew that was untrue. As much as I hated to admit it James wasn't a bad looking bloke. It's terrible having attractive brothers. Most of my friends want to get into their pants. I mean you should just hear Laine Turner going on and on about Albus's abs. And don't even get me started on Dora Campbell's ridiculous obsession with James.

We offered to clear up after dinner but Gran shoed us away. Some idiot had hung mistletoe up in the doorway and a grinning Louis swept Ariana up and kissed her.

'Oi break it up,' her brother said crossly.

Louis just smiled wickedly. 'Till next time _cheri'_ he said kissing the top of her head. She looked rather shell shocked but not nearly as horrified as Al looked.

He waited till it was just Scorpius, James, Louis, Fred and me left to completely blow his top.

'Why the fuck did you do that?' he howled.

Louis who was a fairly easy-going person had always got on well with Al. So he did seem fairly surprised when Al started yelling at him.

'Do what?' he asked cautiously.

'Why did you kiss her?' he asked, still shouting rather loudly.

James, Scor, Fred and I were in splits.

'There was mistletoe,' he said shrugging. 'And she's hot.'

'I know she's hot,' Al yelled, completely losing it. 'But I should be the one kissing her not you.'

'Well then go right ahead,' Louis said flippantly. 'I'm certainly not going to stand in your way. Though I'd keep in mind that it's been four months since she woke up in your bed and since you don't seem to have made any headway…'

'See even Louis knew about it,' I whispered to James.

'I had forgotten how entertaining Christmas was,' he said grinning.

Al was desperately trying to rein in his anger. 'Can you please just back off,' he said. 'And if you're chatting her up don't flirt with Daemon at the same time. It's weird.'

'So I can chat her up if I don't hit on Daemon?' Louis asked riling Al up purposely.

'No you bloody well can't,' he howled.

**a/n: Hope you liked it :) More members of the Weasley family to appear in the next installment. **


	16. Chapter 16

SCORPIUS

Al was so angry I expected him to start breathing fire any second. We weren't helping it by laughing every time he started yelling. Lily was laughing so hard she nearly collapsed. I ended up watching her instead of the shouting match. I really couldn't help it; I mean I had held out for two whole months, not touching her, not flirting with her, barely even talking to her and something just snapped. While everyone was immersed in Albus blowing his top (well it is a rather rare occurrence so I suppose I understood why they were all so fascinated) I gently stroked her arm. She stiffened but didn't move away. Elated I reached out and held her hand, just for a second and she shifted her body so no one would see. Not that they would've noticed anything because Al had now started throwing things at Louis. Louis just casually directed all of the flying objects to the side. I grimaced when I thought of the mess created. This was the room Al and I had to share

'Okay,' I said. 'Pack it up.'

'Oh shut up Malfoy,' Fred said. 'Don't stop this; it's the most entertainment I've had in a year. Well now that you're Head Boy I suppose you feel the urge to destroy fun.'

I bristled. 'I do not,' I said. Oh such a brilliant comeback Malfoy I thought to myself. You might as well throw in I'll tell my mum on you.

'Don't be so wet,' James said. He waved his wand and put everything back in its place.

'And if Al does destroy your room you can sleep in ours,' Fred said innocently.

'Not a chance in hell,' I said firmly. 'You'll just use me as a guinea pig for one of your experiments.'

'We're hurt you think we'd be so inhospitable,' James said. He and Fred cracked identical grins.

'And none of our guests have ever complained,' Fred said.

'That's because they're so shocked they lose the ability to speak,' I said dryly.

Thankfully Al seemed to have calmed down. Louis left our room smirking and looking far too pleased with himself. James and Fred followed him out.

'It's okay,' I said. 'Ariana would never go for someone like that.'

'Well she seemed pretty into him at dinner didn't she?' he said bitterly.

'Don't worry,' I said. 'She's not exactly Louis's type either. It's really nothing serious. You're just making a very big deal out of nothing.'

Al just grunted. We switched the lights off and tried to sleep but I swear I could sense him fuming silently.

'Quidditch?' I asked.

He got out of bed immediately. 'Yeah. Let's get James and Fred. Rose'll just complain,' he said excitedly.

'What about Lily,' I asked casually.

'Yeah sure,' he said.

'I'll go get her,' I said, hiding my grin.

I quickly made my way to her room, desperately hoping that Albus hadn't noticed anything. I knocked on her door. Fred's little sister Roxanne opened it. She's a tiny eleven year-old with huge brown eyes and a snub nose. I usually don't like kids but I had to admit that this one was really cute. She stared up at me.

'Hi Scorpius,' she said smiling.

'Hi Roxy, can I talk to Lily?' I asked.

She smiled knowingly and said 'Lily, Scor wants to talk to you.'

Lily came to the door. She smiled shyly.

'I'll leave you two alone,' Roxy said with a giggle.

'Up for some midnight Quidditch?' I asked.

She nodded looking slightly disappointed.

'Don't worry,' Roxanne said from inside, she had obviously been eavesdropping. 'I'll cover for you. Go for a romantic midnight Quidditch game.'

'Midnight Quidditch with James, Fred and Al,' I said a little louder so she would hear.

'Well then there isn't going to be any romance,' she said disappointedly. 'My brother's a stupid tosser.'

Lily's expression was a mix between shock and amusement, I just laughed.

'Night Roxy,' Lily said, quietly shutting the door.'

The minute it was closed I turned her around and gently brushed my lips against hers.

'What are we doing Scorpius?' she asked.

'I don't know,' I said. 'All I know is that I really do like you and I hate having to pretend like I don't.'

'You didn't talk to me for two months,' she said accusingly.

'I know,' I said but doesn't this-' I kissed her again'-feel right?'

'It does,' she said, her eyes still closed. 'It feels right.'

'Come on,' I said. I felt happier than I had in months. 'Lets go play some midnight Quidditch.'

LILY

We snuck out of the house and went to a patch of land a fair distance from the house. This was where we usually play so there a hoop. We played Al and Scor versus James, Fred and I. They kicked our arses. Al's actually a much better player than James. It's just that he's a crap captain. He could probably play professionally if he wanted to but Al always wanted to be an auror, just like Dad. He'll get into the training programme no problem. He's annoyingly intelligent.

'Well it isn't fair,' James grumbled. 'We only had one Chaser on our team.'

'So did we you idiot,' Al said. 'I'm a seeker.'

'Yeah but you both have to catch stuff,' James said dismissively.

'They outplayed us Jamesie,' I said. 'Nothing we could do.'

It was three in the morning and I was feeling kind of sleepy. I opened the door making as little noise as possible so as not to wake Roxy. I collapsed on my bed and went to sleep immediately.

Mum woke me up at eight the next day. It's cruelty I tell you these were supposed to be my holidays. Al, James, Scor and Fred were already at the table. Al was using his plate as a pillow and Scor stared glassy-eyed into space. Fred and James on the other hand were in fine fettle. I don't know how they did that. Even running on five hours of sleep they aimed to create as much trouble as possible. They had managed to stick Uncle Percy's glasses to the table with a particularly strong sticking charm. He was getting more and more annoyed by the second especially since he couldn't even reverse a charm done by a couple of wizards thirty years younger than him. Louis was absentmindedly putting cereal in Al's hair. When Al realized what he was doing he woke up and flicked some of his porridge at Louis.

'Stop it Al,' Dad said sternly, sensing conflict.

'But he started it,' Al said childishly.

'Well then that'll teach you not to play Quidditch at all hours of the night,' Dad said opening up the Daily Prophet. 'If you don't want cereal in your hair go to bed early.'

We looked at each other embarrassedly. Dad always knows everything.

Dad looked at our surprised expressions and laughed. 'You kids think you're so smart,' he said chortling. 'You left the brooms out in the hall last night.'

James and Fred, taking a leaf out of Al's book, flicked some of their porridge at Hugo. It hit him square on the nose. Dad was immersed in his Prophet and didn't see but Uncle George whispered something to Hugo and Hugo grinned.

'What did he say?' Fred asked Hugo, unable to disguise the slight fear in his voice.

'Oh nothing,' Hugo said airily.

I was quickly distracted when I felt someone's hand on my knee. I looked at Scorpius who kept a completely straight face. I shot him a quick grin. I thought I saw a flicker of a smile but it quickly disappeared. His leg was pressed against mine and his hand stroked my thigh. Suddenly I wasn't feeling sleepy anymore.

**a/n: Hope you liked it :) Please revieww. **


	17. Chapter 17

**ARIANA**

I wasn't a hundred percent sure what had happened. Frank had just come back from auror training and I was rather worried about what he'd do to Louis. But all in all it wasn't a bad night. Louis was charming. And though I'd never admit this to anyone I did feel a little happy every time Al glared at him. I felt like we had settled so firmly into the friend zone there was no getting out. My feelings for him confused me. It was a bit like discovering an old book or a game that you hadn't played with in ages and realising that it was better than you remembered it being.

Just because I was rather occupied with Louis and with trying to hide my elation that Albus really cared didn't mean I hadn't caught those agonized looks that Scorpius gave Lily every time she wasn't looking. And I'm pretty sure that Rose who was sitting next to him noticed too. I could tell it was all going to blow up in their faces.

'Never liked Louis,' Frank grunted when we got home.

I whacked him on the shoulder. 'Don't talk bullshit,' I said. 'You were on the same Quidditch team for three years and you rarely said anything about him. In fact you always said he was a brilliant seeker.'

'Yeah but that was before he decided to snog my sister in front of everyone,' he muttered.

I idly wondered how he would react to learning I had woken up in Albus's bed.

'I'm going to bed,' he said.

'Bed? It's barely ten o'clock,' I said.

'Well I have to get up early. Need to go to work,' he said.

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.

'But you can't go back to work, it's Christmas,' I said. 'You promised you would stay home over Christmas.'

He sighed. 'I can't Ria. You know that.'

'Fred and James are taking two weeks off. Why can't you?' I asked, annoyed. Lily got her whole family and my brother was running off to fight dark wizards.

'Fred and James work at a joke shop,' he said dismissively. 'They can take off whenever they want.'

'Oh don't be so condescending,' I snapped. 'Both Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron've taken off work and they're aurors too.'

'Don't be silly,' he said. 'Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron are the two senior most aurors they can afford to take time off work.' The seeing my expression he added, 'Don't worry RiRi, I'll come back for Christmas.'

'You'd better,' I said pouting.

I went up to bed too and read for a bit. I went to sleep with a book still in my hand and the lights on. I was woken at about one by the distinct crack of someone apparating. I peeked out of my door. Our house had anti-apparation charms on it so I was a little scared. I moved out into the corridor and I realized that there were voices coming from Frank's room. I tried to listen but I couldn't really make out anything that was being said. I ran back into my room and pulled an extendable ear out of my cupboard. I quickly put a disillusionment charm on it and shoved it under the door.

'Miss me?' I heard a distinctly feminine voice say.

'I saw you three hours ago babe,' my brother said amusedly.

'Yeah but it isn't the same as this is it?' the mystery girl said.

'Not it certainly not,' my brother agreed.

'Now Mr. Longbottom I think you're wearing far too many clothes. I think I should do something about that,' the girl said. Why did she sound so familiar? I could've sworn I had heard her voice somewhere.

'That sounds like a rather good idea,' he said. 'Oh and incidentally could you please tell your brother to keep his hands off my sister?'

Oh my Merlin. My brother was shagging Dominique Weasley. Or Victoire but considering she was married to Teddy and had a beautiful baby boy that was unlikely. I started to retrieve the extendable ear. I did not want to hear my brother having sex with someone.

Just when it was nearly out I heard Dominique say, 'So we're definitely going to Ireland for a week right? Because I've already told Mum I couldn't stay at the Burrow for Christmas and she was not too pleased.'

I froze. 'Yeah, I told Mum and Dad that I had to work. Don't worry I've got all our reservations sorted,' he said.

I made my way back to my room. I was so angry. I was going to kill my stupid brother tomorrow. The only reason I hadn't kicked the door down and murdered him right there was because I didn't want to see him naked. It would scar me for life.

* * *

**ROSE**

I was sharing a room with Molly and Lucy. I literally wanted to kill myself after just two hours. Well or kill them. The amount they fought was actually worrying. Lucy with her thick red hair and round face was a lot more like Gran than Molly was, even though she had been named after her. Molly was a year older than me and Lucy was a year younger. Lucy usually shares with Dom and Vic but this year she had to give up her room because Vic had Teddy and the new baby there. I really envied Lily. Even though Roxanne doesn't really like me much at least she doesn't shout as much as these two.

'I was working on that report for months,' Molly screamed. 'Now I have to start it all over again.'

'Badger didn't mean to eat the papers. Did you baby?' she said, rubbing her Labrador's nose.

Oh and did I mention Lucy has a dog which goes wherever she does. Though I certainly don't like having to live with her, she is actually pretty cute. She's a chocolate brown colour. She went through a stage where she smelled awful so Uncle Percy called her Badger instead of Hazel, which was actually her name. Unfortunately as Lucy was at school and couldn't protest it stuck and she didn't answer to anything else anymore.

'I'm going to kill that damned dog,' Molly said.

'Don't you dare threaten Badger,' Lucy said outraged.

I pulled my pillow over my head and tried to get some sleep.

I woke up the next morning when a book hit head.

'Your stupid dog's chewed on my glasses,' Molly shouted.

Lucy let out a wail. 'Oh my poor baby,' she said gently opening her dog's mouth. 'Did you get cut?'

Molly let out a scream of irritation and threw a book at Lucy. Which thankfully missed me this time. Really Molly with glasses is not the most coordinated of people and without glasses she was seven times worse.

I rolled out of bed and went to the loo. Within seconds someone was banging on the door.

'John puked,' Teddy yelled. 'I need to clean him off.'

'I'll be out in a minute,' I said.

I finished as quickly as possible and got out. This house is massive and we still only have three loos. Teddy looked awful. There were violet circles under his eyes and his hair was a pale yellow. That was always a bad sign. A happy Teddy was purple or blue a tired overworked Teddy was white or yellow.

'Thanks,' he said washing vomit off of his son. 'He's been sick lately,' Teddy explained. 'He's awake most of the night and keeps us up too.

'Dadda,' John said smiling and reaching a hand out to grab his father's hair, which immediately turned a happier shade of blue.

'It's been a month since he first said it and I still feel happy every time he does,' Teddy admitted.

I smiled at him. 'Do you want me to take him to breakfast?' I asked. 'You can get cleaned off too.'

'Yes please,' he said gratefully. He also looked rather surprised. I usually don't do stuff for other people. 'Go on Johnny,' he urged. 'Go to Aunty Rose.'

'Oh please don't call me that,' I laughed, taking the child who was now looking quite happy. 'I feel ancient.'

I carried the baby to the kitchen and sat down next to Lily. John immediately jumped into her arms.

'Hello cutie,' she said holding him. 'How are you today?'

He sort of gurgled at her.

I felt a slight stab of jealousy. He obviously liked her more than me. How lame did I sound? Jealous because a baby preferred Lily to me. It wasn't just the baby though. I had seen the way Scorpius looked at her yesterday. It wasn't fair. Everyone liked her more than they liked me.

'How was rooming with Molly and Lucy?' she asked with a laugh.

'Terrible,' I said. 'I thought one of them was going to spontaneously combust. Badger ate Molly's report and glasses.'

Everyone except Uncle Percy laughed. He was trying to get his glasses off the table and he just pursed him lips.

'She really should control that dog,' he said. 'She lets it run wild.'

I knew that even though he seemed wildly disapproving he indulged Badger as much as Lucy did. I loved Uncle Percy. Everyone else thought he was a bit of a prat but he was really nice. I tapped his glasses with my wand and they got unstuck.

'Thanks,' he said. 'How did you do that? I've been trying for a half hour.'

'I know the spell they used,' I said. 'I used the same one to stick Anthea Lockwood's hair to the bedpost when she slagged off Daemon.'

'I'll pretend I didn't hear that,' he said, but I could see the corners of his mouth turn up.

Dad came in a few minutes later. He grabbed a Prophet and let out a whoop of joy. 'They won,' he said celebrating. Dad was really cut up last night because he couldn't go see the Cannons game. He had season tickets and felt it was a waste if he didn't see every match the Cannons played it.

'So who's coming to next week's game?' he asked. 'I pulled some strings and managed to get us a bunch of tickets.'

'I'll come,' I said.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. 'That's brilliant Rosie,' he said. 'Now who else.'

Scorpius, Lily and Uncle Harry all nodded in assent.

'I'm afraid I have to work,' Uncle Percy said rather pompously. 'There have been several violations of trade agreements so I'm going to be in France next weekend. Just yesterday they found an illegal French Longwing dragon egg in Sussex. These French officials are terribly lax.'

'You're going to France Daddy?' Lucy asked walking in with Badger slobbering at her heels.

'Yes I'm here for most of this week though and I'll be back in time for Christmas,' he said.

'Then can you get Badger some of that dog food he really likes? You know the same thing you got him last time?' she asked.

He reddened slightly. He didn't like anyone knowing how much he doted on that dog. 'Yes yes,' he mumbled.

'You get stuff from France for the dog and you still refuse to pick up an Erumpent horn up for me,' Uncle George said indignantly.

'The dog is unlikely to use the food to blow something up but putting an Erumpent horn in your hands is like asking for disaster. And not to mention the fact that it's a Class-B tradeable material which makes it illegal to transport it over borders,' he said.

'You need to loosen up Pearce,' Uncle George said.

**a/n: So I've decided to change my format a little since one of my readers got a little confused the last time. I hope this helps and please revieww :) **


	18. Chapter 18

**ARIANA**

I made sure I got up early enough to catch Frank before he left. Mum and Dad were down at the pub so I had absolutely no reason to try to keep quiet.

'You are such an arsehole,' I yelled.

'What did I do now?' he asked.

'Well um maybe it's that you're going to spend Christmas with your girlfriend instead of us and then you lied about it?' I said trying to sound as snarky as possible. I felt like I was channeling Rose.

Frank paled. 'H-how did you know that?' he asked.

'I heard you yesterday. You didn't even tell me you were dating anyone,' I said conveniently forgetting to tell him I had been eavesdropping using extendable ears.

He became slightly red with anger. 'I don't see why I have to tell you anything,' he spat. 'You didn't bother telling me you hooked up with Albus Potter did you?'

I gasped at the unfairness. 'I did not hook up with Albus Potter,' I said loudly.

'Really? That's not what Dom told me,' he said.

'This is not about me,' I said firmly. 'This is about you lying to all of us.'

'I couldn't tell anyone because all Dom and I want is a bit of fun. Mum and Dad don't get that. They'd start expecting grandchildren and they'd be over the moon 'cause she's a Weasley. Do you know how much pressure that is?' he asked.

'Well it seems pretty serious. You should've told us Frank,' I said.

'Oh shut up,' he growled and stalked out of the door.

I was so angry with him. I wanted someone to talk to. I couldn't tell Mum and Dad because they'd be absolutely thrown by this. Really didn't want to talk to Arya. She'd been getting weirder and weirder over the last few months. Her mood swings were scary and she'd thrown herself into Quidditch so she was barely around. I picked up a quill and scribbled a note on a piece of parchment.

'Give this to Albus Potter,' I told my owl Circe.

She hooted twice and took off. His reply came after an hour. I smiled and got ready. He Flooed over twenty minutes later. He seemed happy.

'So where do you want to go?' he asked.

'How about ice-cream?'

'That sounds good,' he said.

We walked a little awkwardly to the ice-cream parlour.

'So what did you want to talk about?' he asked.

'Well I just wanted to talk to someone,' I said. 'And you're a good listener.'

'Okay then shoot,' he said.

'Well my brother's shagging your cousin and I caught them yesterday,' I started.

'Wait wait wait,' he said. 'Which one?'

'Dominique,' I said.

'Oh wow I did not see that one coming,' he said.

'And then he told us that he was going to work when he's actually going to Ireland. With her,' I said.

'That doesn't sound so bad,' he said.

'But he lied,' I said. 'We don't lie to each other.'

'You need to cut your brother some slack,' Al said. 'It's obviously a new relationship and he must be nervous. I'd be scared if I was dating a Weasley or a Potter. It's a lot of pressure.'

'You are a Potter so you never have to worry about that,' I said.

'Yeah but sometimes I wish I wasn't,' he sighed. 'It's so much pressure.'

'Oh don't be such a drama queen,' I said sticking my tongue out at him.

'I'm the drama queen?' he asked incredulously. 'Who here at this table just had a hissy fit because her brother lied to her?'

'Oi that isn't fair,' I said. I was slowly beginning to see that I had overreacted.

'At least you still talk to your brother. Mine only talks to me if there are other people in the room who might think it weird that we barely say a word to each other,' he said.

'Why?' I asked.

'I messed up pretty bad last year and did a couple of things I really regret.'

'What did you do?' I asked.

He grimaced. 'I don't want to talk about it. Let's just eat our ice-cream before it melts.'

We sat in companionable silence. After a while he asked 'Would you ever consider dating a Weasley or a Potter?'

I tried to stop my heart from doing a couple of backflips.

'Well I would definitely go for Fred,' I said lightly. 'Those eyes make me melt. Oh and James. His abs are gorgeous.'

'Don't be so fucking flip,' he said. I could tell I had struck a nerve.

'Then rephrase your question and ask me properly,' I said tartly.

'Fine would you ever date me?' he asked.

I took his face in my hands and kissed him lightly on the nose. 'Well took you long enough didn't it?'

* * *

**LILY**

Al had rushed up to his room to get ready the minute the owl came. I had actually never seen him move so fast. I had John in my arms. Every time I made a face at him his hair would turn a different colour and he would shriek with delight. I love babies. Badger was licking his toes and he was desperately trying to grab the dog's nose.

'Oh thanks for taking care of him,' Vic said when she swept into the kitchen. She obviously hadn't slept in at least three days and still managed to look glamorous. She sat down opposite us and Gran gave her an omelette and kissed her on the head.

'It's so good to be with family,' Vic sighed. 'I was going absolutely crazy.'

'You would 'ave been fine eef you 'ad just come and stayed with us,' her mother snapped.

'We stayed with you for six months after John was born Maman. It would've been weird if we had stayed longer,' Vi said patiently.

Aunt Fleur just sniffed and carried on eating breakfast. After she was done she picked John up and took him outside.

'Mum's convinced we're crazy because we're trying to do this on our own,' Vic sighed. 'She's even more cut up because Dom's leaving today. She has some article she has to write on Wizard fashion in Paris.'

Making sure no one else could hear Scorpius quickly whispered in my ear. 'Meet me in the broom shed in ten minutes. I'll leave now so it doesn't look suspicious.'

I could barely sit still. Scorpius ran his hand across my ribs, got up and left. I waited for exactly ten minutes and made my way to the broom shed. I quickly opened it and Scorpius enveloped me in his arms. He pinned me against the wall and kissed me. This was nothing like yesterday's kisses. Those were sweet and short. These were passionate and lingering. I pulled him as close to me as possible and started tugging his shirt off.

'Lily,' he groaned.

'OH MY MERLIN. HOW STUPID ARE YOU TWO?' The door flung open and there stood Rose.

**a/n: So this is going to be the last chapter for a while now because I really don't know where to go from here and I've started a new story called Portions For Foxes. It's going to be a sort of prequel to this and it's going to be centred around James. That one's going to be more like my normal stories and have only two POV characters. Anyway I hope you like the chapter and please check my new story out. **


	19. Chapter 19

ALBUS

'So do you want to come to the Burrow for lunch?' I asked excitedly.

'I came yesterday Al,' she said. 'And you have a billion people at your house.'

'Come on,' I said poking her stomach. 'You know you want to.'

'Fine, but only because your grandmother makes the best food in the world,' she said. 'Not because I want to spend anymore time with you or anything.'

We went back to the Leaky Cauldron and she asked her mum and dad if she could come with me. Her dad looked at me and raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Her mum just grinned knowingly and said it was fine. We quickly flooed to the Burrow. I held onto her tight. A couple of people were still sitting around the table. Uncle Bill and Uncle Ron were playing chess. Uncle Bill was constantly distracted by John who was pulling his hair and was therefore losing quite badly. But since Uncle Ron is an annoyingly brilliant chess player he probably would've lost anyway.

'And check mate,' Uncle Ron said triumphantly.

'Let's look for Scorpius,' I said.

'Okay,' she said.

We went upstairs. I stopped short when we passed Mum and Dad's room.

'I'm so glad they're getting along better now,' Mum said. I could hear her through the door.

'Playing a game of Quidditch does not mean they're getting along better,' Dad said. They were talking about James and me.

'But…'

'It's going to take James a while to get over what Al did,' Dad said. 'It's more difficult to forgive someone when they hurt someone you love. It's far easier to forgive when the wrong's been done to you.'

'But it happened so long ago,' Mum said. 'And he's forgiven Scorpius.'

'It's different Gin, you know that. Besides Scorpius did make it right while Albus just let it go,' he said seriously.

'But they're our babies,' she said tearfully. 'And they're fighting.'

'We need to let them sort it out on their own,' Dad said.

I slowly walked away from the door and started walking down the stairs. I looked at Ria.

'What did you do?' she asked.

I swallowed. 'I told you, I messed up last year. Pretty badly actually. I did something I never thought I would do. I really fucked up.'

'Do you want to talk about it?' she asked tentatively.

'Not really, I lost my brother because of it. I don't want to lose you too,' I said.

'It would take a lot for you to lose me,' she said. 'Tell me when you're ready. I won't push.

'Thank you,' I said touching the side of her face. 'You are incredible.'

'Let's go play with John,' I said. 'I need something to cheer me up.'

'You like babies?' she asked surprised.

'Yeah I do,' I said laughing at her expression.

'Who would have thought,' she said.

'I love babies,' I said grinning. 'Especially John. When he sneezes his hair turns a different colour. If you play with him enough and he starts to like you he might even change it to match to match yours. It's really cute. Once he was playing with both Dominique and Louis so his hair turned red with blonde streaks. It's cute.'

She laughed my enthusiasm. 'You're cute,' she said.

'So are you,' I said. I leaned down and kissed her. She pressed her body onto mine and I realized how perfectly we fit.

'Albus?' Oh crap.

'Morning Mum,' I said. 'And Dad'

Mum looked at me a smile on her face. 'I think your dad wants to talk to you,' she said. 'Don't worry, I'll keep Ria company.'

Ria suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable. I shot her an apologetic look and tramped up the stairs.

'So do you want to tell me what's going on?' he asked once we were in his bedroom.

'We're dating,' I said.

'I should hope so,' he said. 'Albus I know you mean well but after last year…'

'I messed up Dad,' I said. 'But I like her. I really do.'

'Ria's very important to all of us-'

'I know. She's important to me too,' I said.

He just sighed. 'I hope you know what you're doing,' he said.

'Why does no one trust me anymore?' I asked angrily. 'It was one mistake. One.'

'I know,' he still looked sad though.

'I need to apologize don't I?' I asked.

He smiled. 'Yes you do,' he said. 'I'm so glad you're taking responsibility for your actions.'

'She doesn't even know it but she made me realize that I need to make it right,' I said. 'If anyone hurt her I would kill them. I get how James feels now, I get why he's so angry.'

'I'm proud of you,' my father said. 'You're finally growing up.'

Mum and Ria were still standing on the staircase but Ria looked less uncomfortable. 'Hey I need to do something is it okay f I go out for a bit?' I asked her, feeling like an idiot because I was the one who called her here.

'Okay,' she said, not sounding too pleased.

'I'll only be gone for a little while,' I promised.

I went to James's room and knocked on the door. I heard a bang and then someone yelled 'Come in.' Fred was sitting on the bed and his eyebrows were burnt off.

'Oh it's you,' James said when he saw me.

'I need to make things right,' I said. 'With Violet. I need her to know how sorry I am.'

'Don't you dare get within ten feet of her,' he hissed. 'You broke her and I had to pick up the pieces.'

'I have to,' I said. 'I hate myself for doing what I did and I need to at least try and make things better. You and me were sort of friends last year, I miss that.'

'She was the reason we were friends,' he said.

I know and I'll always be grateful to her because of that,' I said.

'You never deserved her,' he said.

'I know. But I want to move past it and I can only do that if I apologize,' I said.

'Fine but if you say anything that makes her upset I will kill you,' he said.

'So much drama,' Fred said, laughing as we glared at him.

**a/n: So this doesn't make much sense especially since I've barely started the prequel and certainly haven't gotten to Albus's big screw up. Since I'm writing both this and the prequel at the same time it might become a little confusing, though it probably would make more sense if you read the prequel (Portions For Foxes). Hope you liked it and please revieww :) And I'll probably put chapters of both stories up on the same day but I'm trying to finish Portions For Foxes first so it will make more sense to my readers so forgive me for not updating as regularly as I used to. **


	20. Chapter 20

**ALBUS**

I stepped into James's flat. I had never been here before. It was oddly clean. A dark haired woman walked out of one of the rooms. I recognized her as Violet's mother. I had only seen her once before. At Kings Cross and she certainly hadn't been on top form then.

'Hello,' she said.

'I'm Albus,' I said holding my hand out.

'I know,' she said. So this was why Violet hadn't turned up at the Burrow she had her mum staying with her.

'Is Violet home?' I asked.

'Violet,' she called.

'Yeah mum?' she said coming out of the kitchen.

'There's someone here to see you,' her mother said.

'Al?' she asked.

'Hello Vi,' I said trying to keep my tone as even as possible.

'What are you doing here?' she asked.

'Could we talk?' I asked. 'In private?'

Her mother sniffed and walked away. I was surprised they were still talking. After the events of last year their relationship had been rather rocky.

'What do you want Al?' she asked. I looked at her for a couple of minutes. At her blue-black hair and her brilliant violet eyes. I looked at the face of the girl I thought I loved for most of last year and I felt nothing except deep regret.

'I need to apologize,' I said. 'I'm so sorry for any hurt I caused you.'

'It's been more than six months Al. It's alright. I'm happy,' she said. 'We weren't right and we would never have worked.'

'I did love you,' I said.

'I know,' she said. 'And I might've loved you but at the end of the day-'

'You loved James more,' I said, cutting her off.

'Yes I did,' she said. 'And on some level I'm glad you cheated on me. If you hadn't we might both be stuck in a relationship that caused us more pain than happiness. We would've been unable to leave each other and that would have made us both miserable.'

I felt like a weight had been taken off my chest. 'I miss you Vi,' I said.

'I missed you too,' she said. 'Now tell me who the girl is.'

'What?' I asked her.

'You know the girl who you're in love with. The reason you just apologized to me,' she said smiling. I suddenly remembered why I liked her so much.

'How did you know there was a girl?' I asked.

'I dated you for more than six months,' she said. 'I know you. You're incredibly stubborn and incredibly lazy. It would take someone very special to get you to do something like this.'

'I guess,' I said. Violet really knew me well.

'So who is she?' she asked,

'Ariana Longbottom,' I said.

Violet started laughing. 'You and Ariana Longbottom?' she asked.

'Yeah,' I said. 'She's brilliant.'

'Albus,' she said. 'I do believe you've fallen in love.'

'Maybe,' I said shrugging. 'Ria's special.'

'So are you Albus Potter,' she said.

'I'd like us to be friends,' I said. 'I really have missed you Vi.'

'Missed you too Al,' she said. 'And you have to tell me what's going on at Hogwarts. How's Lexie doing?'

'Pretty good. She still plays Keeper. We lost to Ravenclaw though so she was gutted. She's dating the Ravenclaw Chaser Crawford. Said she wasn't able to look him in the eye for weeks,' I said. I found it slightly odd that Vi would ask after Lexie because she was James's ex-girlfriend.

'Yeah and Maya?' she asked. 'Fred still writes to her but he doesn't talk about her much.'

'She's doing okay. I haven't really seen her around much,' I said. 'I think she misses him though. She's pretty close to Daemon though so I could ask him.'

'No don't bother,' she said with a laugh. 'I'm just being nosy.'

'It's nice talking to you Vi,' I said.

'It's nice talking to you too Al,' she said. 'Oh and I heard you got Quidditch captain. Can't say I'm surprised though.'

'I'm not a very good captain,' I admitted. 'Don't tell him this but James was miles better. I just don't know how to get them to co-operate.'

'I'm sure you'll work it out,' she said.

'Why don't you come to the Burrow for Christmas lunch?' I asked. 'You can bring your mum along if you want.'

'You know what Al,' she said. 'I think I might actually do that. Now go back to the lovely Miss Longbottom and have a good time.'

* * *

**ROSE**

I really just came to put the brooms those idiots had left out in the hall last night. What I didn't expect to see was my best friend sucking my cousin's face off. Do you even know how disgusting that is?

'Are you insane?' I asked Scorpius. 'Al would actually hex your balls off if he even suspected you were doing his sister.'

'We're not having sex,' Lily said defensively.

'Really?' I asked. 'Then why is Scor's shirt on the floor?'

They looked at me embarrassedly. 'We hadn't even kissed before last night,' Lily said.

Scorpius was oddly silent. I think the possible consequences of what they were doing were running through his head right now.

'Okay so I get that you two have some strange desire to rip each others clothes off,' I said. 'But if you want to do it you'll have to be much smarter than this.'

'What are you saying,' Scorpius asked warily.

'Until you can figure out a way to make Al okay with you dating his sister you're going to have to be very careful,' I said. 'And you'll need my help.'

'You want to help us?' Scorpius asked. 'Why?'

'Because you idiots mean more to me than most of my actual family and I don't want to see us get ripped apart because you two can't keep it in your pants.'

Lily was still looking at me suspiciously. 'You never do anything for other people,' she said.

And for some reason that hurt a little.

'Well I'm going to help you now,' I said firmly. 'And honestly this has more to do with me than with you. I don't want you to screw up relationships that mean a lot more than this one does Lilykins,' I ended cruelly.

She flushed a bright red.

'Rose,' Scorpius said warningly. Oh how sweet he was defending her. I knew this didn't mean anything though. Scorpius always needed a challenge. He would get tired of her once the novelty wore off. I couldn't let it screw up us though. We were the Wolf Pack, we stuck together. Even after Al cheated on Scor's sister he had stuck by him. Unfortunately Al's relationship with Lily was rather different from Scor's and Violet's. Al would tear anyone who hurt his sister apart. And as much as I loved Scorpius I had to admit that it was almost inevitable that he was going to hurt Lily at some point.

'I'll leave you two to it then,' I said sounding a little bitter even to myself.

As I left I said a quick repelling charm. If anyone wanted to get brooms they would now remember that they had something extremely urgent to do.

**a/n: I'm so sorry for the ridiculous amount of time you had to wait for this. Anyway so I've finished writing Portions For Foxes and the last chapter's going to be up tomorrow. If you haven't read Portions For Foxes you might not get the whole Albus/Violet interaction. But anyway they dated and he cheated on her. Maya is someone from my other story and I think I'm going to be writing one about her and Fred. Just to clarify Violet lives with James and Fred not her mum. Her mum's just here for a visit. Violet's James's girlfriend. Anyway sorry about this stupidly long author note and thanks for bearing with me after such a long absence. Please revieww :) **


	21. Chapter 21

**LILY**

After Rose left we just sat down in the broom shed.

'Rose is right,' I said. 'This could mess up relationships more important than this one.'

'Lils I really don't know what to do. I mean everything felt right yesterday. I knew that I wanted you and I knew you wanted me back. It honestly didn't seem more complicated than that,' he said.

'Do you honestly like me?' I asked. 'I mean I know you want me but is it just the whole thrill of the chase and forbidden fruit sort of thing?'

He didn't say anything.

'How about we put this off for a bit,' I suggested. 'You know try and figure out what we're doing before we rush into anything.'

'Okay,' he said. 'That sounds like a good idea.'

I could tell that what Rose had said really struck him. On some level I suppose it hadn't really felt real. And Rose finding out made him see what he truly stood to lose. We got out of the broom shed and walked back to the house in silence. Ria was sitting at the table with Mum.

'Hey what're you doing here?' I asked.

'Oh I um…' she said.

'She's dating Al,' my mum said excitedly. Really I think she was more pleased about it than Ria was. After all the crap that happened with Violet and Albus last year and then Al's thoroughly inappropriate relationships I knew Mum was thrilled that he had finally found someone.

'Congratulations,' Scorpius said mechanically.

'Thanks,' she said.

'Where's Al?' I asked.

'Oh he said he needed to go out for a bit,' she said.

'He's gone to see Violet,' Mum said her voice suddenly devoid of emotion. Mum liked Vi but on a certain level she blamed her for my idiot brothers' fallout. She just didn't know quite what to do with her almost daughter-in-law.

'He went to see Vi?' Scor asked surprised. 'But why?'

'Something about making things right,' Mum said.

Dad walked into the room a couple of minutes later. 'We're heading out to the village,' he said. 'Do you want to come with us?'

'I'll wait for Al,' Ria said.

'Okay. Do you two want to come?' he asked.

'Yeah sure,' Scorpius said.

'I'll come too,' I said. I know I said we should figure things out but a weird part of me still wanted to spend time with him. How stupid does that sound?

'I'm in,' Mum said smiling. Dad kissed her. My parents are still disgustingly in love. They're in their mid-forties and they still snog all the time. It's gross.

Al walked in. 'Did it all work out?' Ria asked.

'Yeah I think it did,' he said with an odd smile on his face.

'We're going to the village for lunch,' Dad said. 'We'll give your Gran a break.'

So we all walked down to the village. When I say all I mean _all_. The house emptied out.

Teddy and Vi dumped John with me and went off on their own. They said they would be back in time for lunch at Martins. Slowly everyone wandered off. Fred and James went to a coffee shop where they were meeting up with Violet and Xavier Campbell. Al went off with Ria. That left Rose, Scorpius and me. Rose quickly made excuses and went off too. So I was stuck with a baby and Scorpius. We walked into a bookstore and started browsing.

'Oh Merlin,' Scorpius groaned suddenly.

'What?' I asked.

'Rita Skeeter's doing a book signing here,' he said.

'Okay let's get out before she sees us,' I said.

John was laughing at the changing pictures on the cover of one of the books. Scorpius picked him up and started walking out. He started yelling and though Scorpius managed to get him quiet he attracted a rather lot of attention. John calmed down and giggled happily. He turned his eyes the same shade of grey as Scorpius's.

'Aww he likes you,' I said, tickling his stomach.

'What do we have here?' someone asked.

Oh god please no I thought desperately.

'Hello Rita,' Scorpius said disdainfully.

'Lovely to see you too Malfoy,' she said. 'What a cute baby. You must be so proud.'

'Not mine,' Scorpius said hurriedly.

'I'm sure,' Rita said. 'And I assume you're the mother Miss Potter after all that shade of red hair could only have been inherited from you.'

Fuck fuck fuck.

'It's not our baby,' I said. Sure his hair was red but that was because he had spent so much time with Weasleys all of whom had bright red hair.

'This is my nephew,' I said.

'Your nephew who has the Scorpius Malfoy's eyes,' she said. 'Oh of course Rose.'

'He isn't mine you stupid woman,' Scorpius said. 'Or Rose's. He's Lily's cousin's Victoire's.'

'Oh how convenient,' she said. 'After all Teddy Lupin is a Metamorphmagus so it's likely his son has inherited the same ability. That's an excellent cover story Miss Potter. Now do you think Rose would like to give an interview on the hardships of raising a child while still in school?'

'The baby isn't Rose's,' I said.

'Then it's yours?' she asked. 'Smile for the camera Miss Potter.'

There was a flash. Scorpius who was still holding John grabbed my hand and we ran.

'That lunatic,' I fumed when we reached a safe distance. 'How on earth could I have possibly had a baby?'

'No one will believe her,' he said. 'It's ridiculous.'

'They have a picture of a child with your eyes and my hair,' I said. 'There are going to be a couple of people in the world who will believe it.'

Then out of the blue he started laughing. 'Oh that was hilarious,' he said. 'You should've seen your face when she asked you if it was yours.'

'Well you didn't look too pleased either,' I said, laughing too.

'Do you know how angry Rose is going to be if tomorrow's Prophet has a story about her supposed love child?' he asked laughing.

'She's going to flip out,' I said.

'Come on,' he said. 'I think I've had enough excitement for one day. Let's go eat lunch.'

'Do you think we should warn them?' I asked.

'No, they'll just make fun of us,' he said.

We headed to lunch. The only good thing about this whole incident was that Scorpius was more relaxed around me. We could make this work. I knew it.

**a/n: So I hope you liked the chapter. I'm actually not a hundred percent sure if I like it as much as I've liked the others but I hope you do. So anyway please revieww :) **


	22. Chapter 22

**ARIANA**

I had a rather good day. Albus still didn't tell me what exactly he had gone to tell his ex-girlfriend but he seemed a lot happier. We all went to lunch. We joined about seven tables together, much to the consternation of the manager and ordered vast quantities of food. We were joined by Xavier who seemed to be like a part of the family. I was a bit surprised that Dora didn't come because I knew she was a friend of Lily's but then I saw her having what seemed like a fairly intense conversation with Scorpius. Really those two might as well be pulling each other's clothes off.

The food really was incredible and Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron after a couple of belts of Firewhiskey became extremely nostalgic. They started talking about all the trouble they got into at Hogwarts. Little Roxanne hung onto their every word. In six months she was going to go to Hogwarts. Roxy was nearly eight years younger than her brother. She was going to be the last Weasley child at Hogwarts. Well from this generation anyway.

'Roxy why don't you play with John?' Aunt Hermione asked. 'He looks lonely.'

John looked far from lonely. He was happily giggling to himself as he threw bits of pasta up in the air. I think Aunt Hermione wanted to get her out of the way because the stories where progressively becoming more and more inappropriate. Uncle Ron was now being extremely rude about some bloke called Krum.

'Krum was Aunt Hermione's ex-boyfriend,' Al explained quietly. I stifled a giggle. I really couldn't imagine Aunt Hermione dating anyone.

'And then he hexed her,' Uncle Ron said.

'As he was under the imperius curse at the time it was hardly his fault,' Aunt Hermione snapped. 'And it's been nearly thirty years. Get over it.'

Uncle Ron mutinously took another slug of Firewhiskey. 'Still a stupid prat,' he said.

Lily and Scorpius were now laughing about something else. They were being so painfully obvious even Al was beginning to look suspicious.

'I think we should tell her,' Lily said. 'She'll be even angrier if we don't.'

'Tell her what? Dom demanded. 'Has Lucy been writing to the Prophet again?'

Oh yes I probably should tell you that Lucy flogs stories to tabloids to supplement her allowance.

'It's not Lucy and it's not you Dom,' Lily said.

'Okay fine,' Scorpius said relenting. 'Tell her.'

'So Rosie,' Lily said. 'If there happens to be something rather strange in the Prophet tomorrow we just want to tell you now that it isn't our fault.'

'What's going to be in the Prophet tomorrow?' Rose asked dangerously.

'Well I hope it doesn't appear so I'm not going to tell you but if it does you have to know that it isn't our fault,' Lily said carefully.

'Don't fuck with me Lily,' Rose growled.

'Rose language,' her mother said from halfway across the table.

'I do not know how she does that,' Rose muttered.

'Mum has super hearing,' Hugo said. 'Sometimes I think she might be half cat.'

For some reason Aunt Hermione blushed a bright red. Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron were both in splits.

'You know Hugo I think you may be right there,' Uncle Harry said through his laughter.

'Woah Mum that would be really cool,' Hugo said. 'You'd be like Professor McGonagall.'

Professor McGonagall was a bit of a legend at Hogwarts. She must be at least a hundred but she still came around sometimes to give out trophies and awards. However comparing his mother to a hundred year old lady was not exactly the most sensitive thing to do. Hugo had definitely inherited his father's tendency to say inappropriate things.

'A younger version of her,' he quickly amended.

Aunt Ginny laughed. 'It's scary,' she said. 'Sometimes I actually feel like I'm talking to Ron when I talk to you.'

'Oi I'm not old,' Hugo said indignantly.

'Well neither am I,' Uncle Ron said.

'Yeah but you know what I mean Dad,' Hugo said.

'Fine a younger version of Ron then,' Aunt Ginny said. 'But with Hermione's eyes.'

'Yeah I still find it a little difficult to believe,' Uncle Ron said. 'And I've been married to her for twenty years.'

'Well we all saw it coming,' Aunt Ginny said shrugging. 'You two fought all the time. I mean I could literally cut the sexual tension around you with a knife when we were younger.'

'Eww that is disgusting,' Rose said. 'Can we please get off this topic?'

Aunt Ginny just laughed again.

'I always knew he would end up with her,' Gran said fondly. 'She was the only girl who could get him to do his homework.'

'Mu-um,' Uncle Ron said embarrassed.

Louis was sitting a couple of seats away from us and he grinned at me. 'So Longbottom since you still have two weeks of holidays and I'm not really doing much right now do you want to go out sometime?'

'No she doesn't' Al said firmly. 'Because I'm the only one she'll be going out with.'

'So you finally manned up?' Louis asked. He honestly didn't look too disappointed.

'Evidently,' James said dryly. 'Is this what brought on the need to beg for forgiveness?'

'Shut up,' Al said annoyed.

'So you two are actually dating?' Rose asked.

'Yeah sort of,' I said.

'Well I can't say that I didn't see that one coming,' she sighed. Honestly you would think I had tried to stab her or something. And though I often felt like doing it I promise that I hadn't actually tried to injure her in any way.

Thankfully everyone was distracted by John throwing pasta in Roxy's hair. She scowled at him and walked away.

'I really don't like babies,' she announced.

'I know what you mean,' Lucy said sympathetically. 'They're nice to look at but you really don't know what to do with them.'

Victoire and Teddy were both torn between amusement and annoyance at this exchange. Amusement won out and everyone started laughing. Lucy was really something else.

**a/n: So I hope you liked this chapter. So I've been having a bit of a case of writers block so I decided to take a break from this story and write another one. So I've written three chapters of a Fred/OC story which I will keep writing but only put up once I'm done with this. Or at least done with a certain amount so nothing in the new story will spoil anything in the old one. Anyway please revieww :) **


	23. Chapter 23

**ROSE**

I was actually really quite worried about the Prophet thing. Honestly I hate both of them. It was worse knowing that something was coming and dreading it, than it just happening. I scowled at them when I walked into the kitchen the next morning. They looked completely unrepentant.

'Has the Prophet come?' I asked Uncle Harry.

'Not yet Rosie,' he said.

'I hate you,' I mouthed in Scorpius and Lily's direction.

Fred was busy reading a letter.

'Whatcha got there Freddie,' Lily asked casually.

'A letter stupid,' he said.

'A letter from who?' she asked curiously.

'Someone,' he said. She glared at him. 'Fine it's from Maya,' he sighed.

'Oh Maya,' she said.

'Ah Maya,' James said.

'Ah we all know Taylor,' Scor said grinning broadly.

'Of course we know Maya,' Al said.

I really need to pay attention more I had no clue what they were talking about. So what if Fred was getting letters from Maya Taylor?

'Fred's getting letters from a girl?' Aunt Angie asked.

'Yeah he writes to her all the time,' James said. 'And he doesn't even throw her letters away.'

'So you write letters to this girl but you only wrote to us about four times from Hogwarts,' Aunt Angie said, mock disappointed. 'And I'm fairly certain one of those letters was a death threat written in dragons blood.'

'You sent your parents a death threat,' Scor asked curiously.

'It was a mistake,' Fred said defensively. 'It got put in the wrong envelope.'

'Anyway,' Lily said. 'I think we're all rather curious. I mean what could you possibly be writing to a girl about? And Taylor's pretty smart.'

'She's like two years older than you. I doubt you've ever talked to her,' Fred said rudely. 'And no you cannot read my letter.'

'Why is it disgustingly inappropriate?' I asked.

'You're disgustingly inappropriate,' he said.

'Come on Fred,' Vic said. 'We're all dying to know what's in that letter now.'

'Well keep dying,' he said. 'It's my letter and I don't want anyone else to read it.' He stuck his tongue out at her and went back to reading it.

Just then a tawny owl flew through the window and deposited a paper on the table. Uncle Harry paid for it. And there right on the front page was a huge headline.

'MALFOY FATHERS A CHILD.'

'Something you want to tell us Scor?' Uncle Harry asked amused.

Scorpius just looked extremely embarrassed.

'Mr. Scorpius Malfoy appears to be a father,' Uncle Harry read. 'And though we aren't certain who the mother of his child is we are fairly sure that is either Miss Lily Potter or Miss Rose Weasley.'

'WHAT?' Dad said looking horrified.

'Its just Skeeter being an idiot,' Scorpius muttered.

'Why does she think you've had a child with Scorpius Lily?' Uncle Harry asked, his voice taking on a rather steely tone.

'She saw us at the bookstore yesterday,' Lily said. 'With John. He sort of changed the colour of his eyes to Scor's and his hair was already red so she just assumed.'

'Why does she think it's my child?' I asked incensed.

'Because when I told her it wasn't mine she assumed it was yours,' Lily said quietly.

'You two are such idiots,' I said. 'Why would go within ten feet of Rita Skeeter?'

'I have to agree with Rose here,' Al said. 'Why?'

'Well we didn't know she was in there,' Lily snapped. 'And really it was a little difficult to avoid her once John started yelling.'

Uncle Harry opened the newspaper as the front page had promised pictures in the middle. He reluctantly started laughing. He put the paper in the middle of the table so everyone could see it.

'You look rather unhappy here,' he said. In the picture Scorpius was glaring at the camera while Lily looked extremely worried. He had angled himself so he was slightly in front of her. With the baby in his arms it almost did look like a family. It looked like Scorpius Malfoy was protecting his family. There was another picture of them running away. He was holding her hand and it looked oddly intimate. I had no idea how no one else saw it.

'Rose!' I heard a bellow. Oh damn. I bet Mum had got her copy of the Prophet in her room.

'Yes mum?' I asked as she stomped downstairs.

'What does this mean?' she asked brandishing the newspaper in front of my face.

'Did you even read the article properly?' I asked. 'I'm barely mentioned. It's mostly these two. They don't even have any pictures of me.'

'Why can't you go a week without being in the papers?' she asked.

'It's not my fault this time,' I said stung.

'You have to admit Hermione,' Dad said reasonably. 'There really isn't anything Rose could've done about this one.'

Mum turned on Dad. 'And you always encourage her,' she said angrily.

'Merlin Mum calm down,' Hugo said.

She glared at him but sat down and started eating breakfast. I shot Hugo a thank-you smile and he grinned back. As much as I complain about my little brother he is actually pretty awesome.

'I'm Sorry Rosie,' Scor said quietly.

'You two are just both so stupid,' I whispered. 'Even if no one will believe you had a baby together it still looks like you two are together. I mean you're practically shielding her from Skeeter in the photograph.'

'You know that it just looks like that because you know,' he whispered back.

'When Al and James decided to kick your arse I'm just going to say I told you so,' I said. 'I mean you would think the fact that she's basically surrounded by her whole family and her that her dad's the Head Auror would be enough to make you keep it in your pants.'

'We aren't having sex,' he whispered vehemently. 'If anything we're taking a break.'

'You got together yesterday and you're already taking a break?' I asked quietly. 'Not exactly the most auspicious sign is it?'

'Rose I don't know what to do,' he said. 'Everything's so confusing.'

**a/n: So this just sort of came out. I know my chapters seem to have been getting smaller and smaller but I don't know what to do. Anyway, one more chapter and they're back in Hogwarts so no more Louis or James or Fred or Violet. But Daemon and Lorcan will be back. Anyway please tell me what you think. Oh and erm kerreb7said there was a bit missing. If you're talking about the whole Al/Violet thing you might have to read my other story but if you're talking about something else please tell me. I hate it when authors jump too much which is something I realised that I have been doing an awful lot with this story so please ask me if something doesn't make sense.**


	24. Chapter 24

**LORCAN**

I could tell something was off when we got back to school. I hadn't actually seen Al, Rose, Scor and Daemon much because my mum had gotten up half-way through break and decided that we were going to Spain. Because apparently there was bunch of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks that had been sighted near Madrid.

So when I got onto the train I noticed something was off. I knew Al had gotten together with Ariana, he had literally sent letters to everyone he knew announcing this. What I didn't get was Scorpius's guilty expression every time he looked at Al. I also didn't understand why Rose was acting like a female dragon. I mean really she was practically spitting fire at anyone who talked to her. Even her new favourite person Arnav Corner wasn't safe from her wrath. I noticed that a lot of her anger was directed toward Scorpius who just sort of cringed and didn't even try to fight back. Al left early on to sit with Ariana.

For the first time in maybe six years we sat on the train making awkward conversation. Matters weren't helped when Scorpius walked out without an explanation though judging by the way Rose glared at him she certainly knew why. All of this was oddly suffocating and I walked out too. While I was aimlessly walking through the train I bumped into someone I had been religiously trying to avoid for at least four months.

'Oh hi Lorcan,' Arya said smiling tentatively. Damn I'm not over her I thought.

'Hi,' I said, trying to sound as calm as possible though even after she bolted I still just wanted to gather her up in my arms and snog her senseless. I am worryingly pathetic.

'So it's been a while,' she said awkwardly.

'Yes it has,' I agreed. So it had actually been four months since I had last spoken to her. Maybe she had changed her mind about me? I desperately wanted it to be true so I did something fairly stupid. 'So I know our last date didn't erm… go so well. And I was thinking maybe we could try it again?' The last bit came out as a question.

'I think I will,' she said after a long pause. 'But nothing's changed. I still don't want a relationship.'

'It's okay,' I said grinning. 'We can work on that.'

I walked back to our compartment feeling considerably happier than I had before. Al and Ariana were sitting there too.

'I got a date with Arya,' I announced when I got back.

Everyone looked at me like I was insane.

'Are you forgetting that she broke your heart?' Rose asked.

'I don't think that's a good idea Lorcan,' Ria said quietly.

'Come on,' I said. 'What's the worst that could happen?'

'You could turn scary and depressed like the last time she ripped your heart out of your chest and danced on it with hobnailed boots,' Al said.

'It wasn't that bad,' I said.

'You were practically catatonic for a week,' Daemon said.

'It's really not a good idea Lorcan,' Ria said again.

'Aren't you her friend?' I asked rather rudely. 'Shouldn't you be defending her?'

'That's why I'm telling you it's a bad idea,' she said frustrated. 'I have discovered- and I must tell you it's a fairly recent discovery- that you aren't exactly terrible.' I saw Al's suppress a smile. 'So I'm telling you this as a sort of friend. It's not going to work.'

'Well I have to give it a try,' I said stubbornly.

* * *

**ROSE**

Idiots. All my friends are idiots. There's Al who stares at our esteemed Head Girl when he thinks she isn't looking and stares at her even when she can see that he obviously is. Then there's Scorpius who vacillates between being a good friend and a horny idiot who can't keep his hands off the one girl he knows is off limits. The number of time I caught them snogging over Christmas. Let me tell you the break thing didn't last long. That was actually why I was sort of angry with him actually. He was being annoyingly indiscreet. Actually the only one who hadn't picked up on anything was Al because he was rather busy with all the staring at Longbottom. Then there was Lorcan, who thought it was a good idea to date someone who obviously didn't really want to be with him. They frustrated me so much. I decided that Daemon was my favourite because he was completely uncomplicated.

The Feast was brilliant as usual though it was a little difficult to keep down my food as Al was sitting next to me and he kept exchanging annoyingly loving glances with his girlfriend all the way at the Ravenclaw table. I needed Arnav.

Although I was so horrifically rude to him today because I was very angry with Scorpius since I had caught him and Lily going at it in my bedroom just before we left. When I asked them why the hell they were practically shagging in my bedroom the little tart (Lily incidentally) just shrugged and said it was because I already knew so no further damage could be done. They'd obviously clean forgotten that I actually shared my bedroom with two other people. Disgusting, randy idiots.

As the feast was slowly ending I walked up to the Ravenclaw table. Dessert had been served and Arnav was talking to his friends.

'I need you,' I whispered into his ear.

He stiffened. 'I'm starting to think that you don't,' he said, his tone clipped.

'I'm sorry about today,' I said. 'There's just stuff that's been bothering me and I took it out on you.'

He turned around and kissed me. 'Room Of Requirement. Twenty minutes. Don't be late,' he said. I felt a shiver of anticipation run through my body.

I wanted to have hot angry sex and if his tone was any indicator of what was to happen…

Didn't disappoint. The room didn't even make a bed for us, just a fairly uncomfortable couch so we ended up having sex against a wall.

'Rose what exactly are we?' he asked after what was the most mind-blowing sex I'd had in a while.

Damn I hate it when they do this. Not the mind-blowing sex thing, the defining the relationship thing.

'What do you want it to be?' I asked.

'What do you want us to be?' he asked.

'I think things are fine the way they are,' I said. 'I don't exactly want a relationship.'

I realized to my horror that I sounded a rather lot like Thomas did.

'That's good,' he said smiling and I heaved a sigh of relief. He was a nice shag. It would be a pity to have to break things off.

**a/n: So i was going to try for about thirty chapters but I might end a bit sooner. i just feel like it's getting a little longwinded. Anyway hope you liked this chapter and please revieww :) **


	25. Chapter 25

**ARIANA**

Quidditch is never something that I've been particularly enamoured by. It's fun I suppose, but it's certainly not the be all and end all of my existence. But since I was dating the Gryffindor Quidditch captain and my best friend was the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain it was a fairly large part of my life. Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor was the weekend after we came back from winter break. It was still freezing cold. The teams flew out onto the pitch. I cheered as loud as I could when Al, Lily and Hugo came out.

'You disgrace to Ravenclaw,' Arya said, amused.

'Well they aren't actually playing us are they so I don't see why I shouldn't cheer for my friends,' I said.

'Well you should be cheering for Hufflepuff,' she said. 'Despite their abysmal performance against us Gryffindor have a pretty good team. If Potter could get his head out of his arse and get them to work together they'll win the cup no problem.'

'I thought you said Ravenclaw are definitely going to win,' I said.

'Yeah I don't see Potter managing to get his team together anytime soon,' she said smirking. 'The cup's Ravenclaw's this year.'

'AND ANOTHER TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR,' Zabini shouted.

'I wouldn't count your dragons before they're hatched Thomas,' Rose said. She was sitting in front of us and had obviously heard everything we had said. Rose hated Arya with an intensity I had rarely seen. I mean even her hatred of me paled in comparison.

'LILY'S REALLY ON FIRE TODAY,' Zabini shouted. 'GRYFFINDOR LEAD THIRTY TO TEN.'

Lily, Hugo and Sturridge flew around each other, weaving around the hapless Hufflepuff players who could barely keep up with them. Very soon Gryffindor were up by seventy points.

'They're definitely working together now,' I said to Arya who looked like she had eaten something particularly sour.

'OH FUCK,' I heard Zabini shout. I looked around and suddenly saw Al's limp body falling through the air. I felt bile rise in my throat. Rose, Scorpius, Lorcan and I ran down to the pitch. Al just lay there. The referee had cushioned his fall with magic but his eyes were closed. I went over to him and brushed his face with my hands, willing him to be okay. Above us the game continued. Suddenly I hated Quidditch.

Madame Pomfrey thrust me out of the way conjured up a stretcher and sent him to the Hospital Wing.

Lorcan, Scorpius, Rose and I followed. Zabini had abandoned his megaphone and accompanied us too. I gripped Rose's hand because at that moment I knew she was just as scared as me. She didn't pull away and I took some comfort from that. The walk to the Hospital Wing was nerve-wracking. What made me even more scared was the obvious worry on the faces of all his friends. This wasn't just another Quidditch injury.

We went into the Hospital Wing but Madame Pomfrey shooed us out. We paced up and down nervously. Judging by the noise coming from the pitch the match was still going on. Rose had curled up next to me like a puppy. She seemed to be sleeping. I looked at Lorcan quizzically.

'It's her coping mechanism,' he explained. 'She just sort of shuts down when things become overwhelming.'

'Oh,' I said.

After another hour of agonized waiting we were allowed in.

'He's still a little groggy, so don't excite him too much,' Madame Pomfrey warned.

We promised not to upset him.

'Hey,' I said softly. I entwined my fingers with his.

'Hi,' he said. 'So um what happened?'

'You fell off your broom mate,' Scorpius said. 'You should've seen these girls. They were out of their minds with worry.'

'Please I wasn't the one making a hole in the floor because of my pacing,' Rose said. 'I knew you would be fine Al.'

Her pale face however told a rather different story.

'I'm glad to see you care about me so much,' Al said with a hint of a smile. 'So how badly did we lose?' he asked, it sounded like the words had been forced from his mouth.

'I don't think the game's over,' Lorcan said.

Al blinked owlishly. 'Oh,' he said.

'Don't worry about that,' I said. 'Just get some rest.'

He sighed. 'I think I'll do that,' he said. He hadn't let go of my hand so Lorcan (quite considerately I may add) conjured up a chair for me.

We waited around his bed for another forty-five minutes. We heard a lot of yelling from the pitch and figured that the match must've finally ended. It had to be one of the longest I had ever seen. The Hufflepuff seeker must've caught the snitch.

'It's over, isn't it?' Al asked.

'Shh go back to sleep,' I said.

'I'm so worthless,' he said. 'Couldn't even do once what James did thrice.'

'You tried,' I said. 'And they were all playing brilliantly before you fell. You managed to turn them into a team.'

'Don't beat yourself up,' Lorcan said. 'It's a miracle they managed to hang on this long.'

Ten minutes later there was a lot noise coming from outside the Hospital Wing.

'But we have to see him,' someone was shouting.

Al groaned. 'I really can't face them right now,' he said.

'All of you be quiet,' I heard Madame Pomfrey say.

'Just ten minutes,' the same person pleaded. I recognized it as Lily.

'Fine but not a second longer,' Madame Pomfrey said sniffing

Lily and Hugo ran up to his bed.

'We did it,' she said jubilantly. 'We won.'

'You what?' Al asked looking like he was in complete shock.

We beat them,' she said. 'Only by ten points so we'll have to destroy Slytherin if we want to win the cup. But we still won.'

The smile on Al's face stretched so wide it almost looked like it hurt.

'We really won?' he asked as if worried this might all be some sort of cruel joke.

'You really are thick,' Lily sighed mockingly. 'Did that fall cause your brain to fall out?'

'Shut up,' he said laughing. 'I just can't believe it.'

'Lily was brilliant,' Hugo said excitedly. 'She scored twelve goals.'

'That's incredible Lils,' Al said enthusiastically. He tried to move forgetting that his back had practically been broken and winced in pain.

'Really is incredible,' Scorpius said, looking at her in awe. Then as if they couldn't help themselves they sort of moved in toward each other and were suddenly kissing so passionately it was almost scary.

I felt Al's hand convulsively tighten around mine. They broke apart and Scorpius looked at Albus with such guilt I felt sorry for him.

'What are you doing?' Al asked, sounding dangerous. Well as dangerous as you can sound when you're in a hospital bed with your back all fucked up.

'I'm sorry,' Scorpius said. 'I just…. I can't help it.'

'She's my sister Scorpius,' Al said sounding incredibly hurt.

'And I love her,' he said.

'I think you should leave,' Al said his tone even.

'I'm sorry,' Scorpius said. 'I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am.' He walked out his head hanging low.

'Okay everybody,' Pomfrey said. 'It's been ten minutes. Out.'

'No please,' Al said. 'Can she stay?' he asked.

'Okay fine. Miss Longbottom can stay. But everyone else out,' she said firmly.

'Have you ever been incredibly happy and then suddenly something happens that make you feel like you've just gone from heaven to hell?' he asked.

'Oh Al,' I said holding his face in my hands. 'Don't exaggerate. Sure it's a bit of a shock but Lily really is old enough to decide who she wants to date.'

'But Scorpius,' he groaned. 'He may be my best mate but you know what he does to girls.'

'But he hasn't been doing much of that lately has he?' I asked. 'You said it yourself. Scorpius hasn't hooked up with anyone this whole year.'

'That's because he's getting some from my sister,' he said, his expression so disgusted you would think there was a pile of dragon dung in front of his nose.

'He hasn't,' I said. 'Lily would've told me if it had… um… progressed any further than snogging.'

'It's still gross,' he said wrinkling up his nose.

'Stop being so childish,' I said. 'He loves her. He said so himself and when was the last time Scorpius ever admitted to loving anybody?'

'I'm not being childish,' he said pouting. He was actually kind of cute when he did that. Not that I'd ever tell him.

'Yes you are,' I said laughing and placing a kiss on his nose. 'They love each other. Just let them be.' I kissed his jaw and then his cheek.

'You're distracting me,' he said.

'Are you complaining?' I asked.

'Not really no,' he admitted. I laughed and kissed him properly.

'Miss Longbottom,' Madame Pomfrey said materializing behind us. 'I'm afraid this constitutes as exciting him.'

'I'm sorry,' I said. 'I'll be good.' She sniffed and walked away. I saw Al suppress a smile.

We sat in companionable silence for a while.

'Are you sure you don't want to go to the celebration party thing?' he asked at around eight o'clock. A really nice house-elf had gotten us dinner.

'Do you want to get rid of me?' I asked smiling at him because I knew that he didn't really want me to leave.

'Well you might have more fun that sitting around here,' he said gesticulating with his spoon.

'I'll leave when you go to sleep,' I said. 'And really those parties aren't exactly my cup of tea.'

'You know that I love you,' he said. I froze a little inside. Damn, did I love him? It was the first time he had actually said it out loud. A voice in my head was shouting too soon too soon at me.

'You don't have to say it back,' he said. 'I just wanted to let you know.'

I thought about it for a while. I mean no one had ever made me fell quite the way he did. It wasn't just the snogging (which was brilliant) it was everything. His slight insecurity, his incredibly loyalty to his friends, his sometimes annoying smartness.

'You know what,' I said tentatively. 'I think I might love you too.'

His face lit up. He gripped my hand tightly.

'You're incredible,' he said his voice oddly gruff.

**a/n: So we're nearing the end. I hope you thought this chapter was up to the mark. I'm not very good at writing Quidditch stuff I mean you have to be JK Rowling which I certainly am not. So we're nearing the end maybe two or three more chapters and then I'll start my sequel which will deal with Fred Weasley and an OC but will definitely have members of the Wolf Pack, especially Rose. So you have been warned. Anyway please review. I only got one for the last chapter and was actually really sad. Reviews inspire me so the more you review the faster I am likely to update. **


	26. Chapter 26

**LORCAN**

Quidditch parties were the best. There's usually an oddly euphoric feeling in the air that sort of permeates everything so even if the team you were on wasn't playing and didn't have much to gain by the victory of the team that won you ended up feeling very happy. This was an exception though. The night started off all right. With the exception of a miserable Scorpius who was getting completely hammered everyone was thrilled. Lily was determined to have a good time and got very drunk too. But since she was voted most valuable player I suppose she had a real reason to celebrate. I had Arya next to me and things had been going fairly well. We were drinking butterbeers and laughing and talking. It was good.

Then it basically all went to hell.

'You fucker!' I heard someone roar.

We immediately went to see what was going on. Roger McLaggen (who had let him in?) was getting the shit beaten out of him by Arnav Corner.

'Take that back you shithead!' he yelled.

'Why?' We all know what a whore she is. I even put the proof of it all over Hogwarts,' he said tauntingly.

'You fucking bastard!' Corner shouted and punched him straight on the nose.

I fought the irresistible urge to go and thump him too. Corner seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it though. Daemon pulled Corner off McLaggen before he could do too much damage though and practically dragged him out of the room. We have our parties in an abandoned classroom on the fifth floor. We put Silencing and Imperturbable Charms on the room so no one could hear what was going on outside. There were a bunch of other ones that prevented people from disturbing us but Daemon and Rose usually handle that sort of thing.

As Daemon was throwing McLaggen out, I saw him punch McLaggen and then shout some very insulting things at him. I turned around to look for Arya but she was gently dabbing the blood off Corner's lip. He stood up and Rose kissed him. I saw the utter heartbreak on Arya's face and knew in that second that she loved him far more than she could ever love me. Her eyes found mine and she looked so guilty I knew that I was right and it could never work with us. I stumbled back to the makeshift bar and she didn't come after me.

'Two Firewhiskeys,' I said to Boot who was acting as bartender for this party.

'Coming right up,' he said.

I drank half of one feeling distinctly sorry for myself. I finished about three and was beginning to feel a little better about my life.

'Can I have a Firewhiskey?' someone asked. Maya Taylor sat in the seat next to mine. She didn't look like she had been having a very good day either.

'Didn't know you came to these,' I said to her.

'I don't,' she said. 'I just needed to distract myself.'

We sat in silence as I finished another two Firewhiskeys. She made her way through two too.

'So why do you need to distract yourself?' I finally asked.

'Ever had a letter sent to you that's not really meant for you?' she asked.

'Is that why you're trying to get drunk?' I asked slurring a bit. 'Not a very good reason Taylor.'

'What if the letter was from someone you liked?' she asked. 'And what if it was a disgusting retelling of a sexual exploit the person you liked had with the intended recipient.'

'I only understood about quarter of that,' I said. 'You'll have to be less complicated.'

'Whatever, I want to get drunk. It's none of your business,' she said snappily. She downed about three fourths of another Firewhiskey and ordered a couple of vodka shots. I drank a couple with her and silently thanked whoever had managed to get their hands on muggle alcohol. It tasted like shit but it was definitely more potent than Firewhiskey. By this time we were both quite drunk.

'So I spent a whole year helping him with his homework and stuff,' she said. 'And he just goes and hooks up with random birds. Random ones. He's such a fucker.' She made a couple of hand gestures to emphasise her point.

'Yeah well the girl I'm in love with is actually in love with my best friends sex buddy,' I said. 'So I win the crappy life contest.'

'And what's worse,' she said fuming drunkenly. 'Is that he gets so weird when I so much as talk to another bloke. He gets all stupidly protective. He's such a hypocrite.'

'Two fucking years,' I said. 'I was in love with her for two years. More than that actually.'

'I hate everyone,' she said suddenly. 'Hate Weasley, hate the stupid blonde he's been screwing, just hate everyone.'

'Don't hate me do you?' I asked worriedly. For some reason I really didn't want her to hate me.

She threw back another shot and hiccupped. 'Of course not,' she said. 'You understand.'

'I do, don't I?' said proudly.

'Here's to being alone,' she said.

'I'll drink to that,' I said and we bumped our glasses together and drank whatever was inside them. At this point I actually had no idea what I was drinking.

'I'm leaving,' she said.

'I'm coming with you,' I said. 'After all what sort of person would I be if I let you walk back by yourself in this state?'

'Please you're way drunker than I am,' she scoffed and then hiccupped.

'We'll keep each other upright,' I said.

'Okay,' she agreed and hiccupped again.

We stumbled out, both extremely unsteady on our feet. I actually don't know how we made it to the common room and still can't fathom how we answered the doorknocker's question right. The common room was deserted and we sank into the sofa.

'You are so cool Taylor,' I said. 'Why have I never talked to you before?'

'Because I intimidate you with my intelligence,' she said seriously. But she burst into peals of laughter seconds later so I knew she wasn't serious at all.

'Maybe,' I said and then I kissed her.

She didn't kiss me back but she didn't move away either. Encouraged I pushed her down onto the sofa. She tangled her fingers in my hair and kissed me back in earnest.

I pulled her off the sofa and we made our way to my dormitory. I kissed her neck as I pulled her shirt off. She pulled my head up to hers and kissed me properly. She tasted predominantly like Firewhiskey. I would've found that slightly gross if I didn't taste like it too and if I wasn't so smashed. The minute part of my brain that was still sober told me that I was doing something stupid but I ignored it. In seconds my shirt was off too. We ended up on my bed in a tangle of limbs. I barely remember what happened next.

I woke up the next morning with a throbbing head and a sense of foreboding. My arms were around Taylor. We were both completely naked and I closed my eyes and groaned. This was not a good way to get over Arya.

She stirred. She slowly opened her eyes and then practically fell off the bed in surprise.

'Of fuck,' she swore. She didn't even ask if we had had sex. It was so painfully obvious. She got out of bed pulling the sheets with her.

'Oi,' I protested weakly.

'No one can know,' she said. 'No one. Especially not-'

'Relax,' I said bitterly. 'I'm not going to tell Al and even if he did I doubt he would tell Fred.'

'I'm sorry,' she said. 'I shouldn't have-'

'It's not like I wasn't a willing participant,' I said.

She nervously looked around the room. Only Gibbons had managed to get back to the dormitory and he didn't even make it to his bed, he was lying on the floor obviously dead to the world. Satisfied that no one had seen her in bed with me she quickly pulled on her clothes after ordering me to close my eyes. She practically ran out of the door. I retrieved my sheets and lay in bed thinking about the complete mess I had made of my life.

**a/n: So I'm going to try and finish this story by tomorrow because I'm leaving and probably won't have access to a computer for the next month and a half. I'm apologize in advance if I can't finish it though. I promise I'll try. Anyway another thing I needed to ask was whether I should put the sequel up now or after I get back. Because I've already written like six chapters and I do want to do something with them before I leave. So yeah tell me what you want. Okay I'm done now. Please revieww :) **


	27. Chapter 27

**DAEMON**

'You smell like guilt,' Rose said sniffing Lorcan. 'And sex. What did you do? And why didn't you shower?'

'I'll shower after breakfast Rose,' Lorcan grumbled.

'Didn't answer my initial question. Maybe I should be asking, "Who did you do?" instead,' she said.

'Can we please not talk about it,' he groaned. He stuffed toast in his mouth and just looked generally unhappy.

We were all nursing awful hangovers and feeling like absolute crap so we didn't press him.

'Why do you lot look like shit?' an amused voice asked from behind us. 'I'm the one with the broken back.'

'Hey you're out,' I said happily.

'Apparently it wasn't as bad as everyone thought. Pomfrey made me take some disgusting potion and she said I'd be as good as new in ten days. Which gives me a week before the next Quidditch match. We're going to flatten you,' he said to me.

'Please Scor hasn't missed a catch all season,' I scoffed. 'The cup is finally ours.'

'You lost to us,' Lorcan said.

'Yeah but Scor wasn't playing. And if you don't beat Hufflepuff then we'll win the cup no problem,' I said, sounding far more confident than I actually felt.

'Like we'll lose to Hufflepuff,' Lorcan said. 'They haven't won a single match all season.'

'Okay shut up all of you,' Rose said, annoyed. 'Enough Quidditch talk it's boring and fairly painful. Especially this early in the morning.'

'Rose it's ten thirty,' Al said amused.

'I went to bed at five,' Rose said glaring at him.

'Well who told you to stay up late?' he asked biting into an apple.

'Well I wouldn't say told exactly,' Rose said, smirking a little. 'More like persuaded. Quite successfully I might add.'

'Don't want to hear about your sexcapades Rose,' Al said covering his ears.

'Whatever,' she said rolling her eyes. 'I'm not the one you should be worrying about. Lorcan had sex with someone he shouldn't have-told you I can smell the guilt Lorcan-and he isn't telling us about it.'

'Ro-se,' Lorcan whined. 'Don't be annoying.'

'I'm sorry,' Scorpius said suddenly. He had been pretty quiet the whole time.

'So you really love her?' Al asked his face unreadable.

'So much,' Scorpius said. 'It scares me.'

'Ria said that I shouldn't give you a hard time because you care about her but it's so difficult,' Al said. 'It's so difficult because I've seen the girls you've screwed around with and I know that if I was one of their brothers I would've killed you by now.'

'I know,' Scorpius said.

'And even if it does work out with you and Lily it has to end at some point right?' he asked. 'I mean it's not like you're going to be together forever.'

Scorpius just shifted uncomfortably.

'Wait,' Al said catching the slight shift in Scorpius's attitude. 'Do you want to be with her forever?'

Scorpius still didn't say anything. I could feel his awkwardness from three seats down.

Al groaned. 'You really do love her don't you?' he asked. 'Like proper love.'

'I think so,' Scor said.

'This is so much worse,' Al muttered almost to himself.

'I'm never going to hurt her,' Scorpius said.

'I suppose it's okay,' Al said slowly. Like he was saying something extremely unpleasant.

Scorpius's face lit up like a Christmas tree. 'What?' he asked, as if unable to believe what he was hearing.

'I suppose it's okay for you to date my sister,' he said. 'But can you please keep the snogging to a minimum?'

Scorpius didn't let him finish his sentence, he had already jumped up and bounded across the hall where he literally scooped Lily up and kissed her right in front of everyone.

'Obviously didn't hear a thing you said about keeping snogging to a minimum,' Lorcan sniggered recovering his good spirits slightly.

'Disgusting,' Rose said. 'Now they don't have to hide it they'll be going at it all over the place. It was bad enough at the Burrow.'

'What?' Al asked. 'Burrow?'

'Yes Albus,' Rose said. 'You were basically the only person who didn't notice that they were on the verge of tearing each other's clothes off for most of Christmas break.'

'I was-'

'Preoccupied,' Rose said snarkily, but I could see a hint of a smile in her face. 'Don't worry. I understand.'

'You do?' Al asked, faintly astonished.

'I mean you were in love and you were all distracted. It's not like it doesn't make me want to hurl but I get it. It's okay,' she said.

Al continued eating his apple but I could see his face brightening a bit. One thing that had really upset him was Rose's utter disdain for Ria. And now it looked like she was coming around.

'How about we go get a hangover cure from the house-elves and Lorcan can tell us about the girl he hooked up with last night,' Rose said. 'After he takes a shower.'

'Merlin Rose you're worse than my mother,' Lorcan muttered.

I grinned at my friends. Everything was alright. Well as right as things could be.

* * *

**a/n: So I'm not completely satisfied with the end but since I'm going to be putting up a sequel fairly soon I guess it's okay. So There are a bunch of loose ends I still haven't tied up like Al and James's relationship, Rose's problems with her mother, Lorcan's disastrous love life and a bunch of others. I would like to say it's all going to be addressed in the next installment but it might actually not happen. Anyway so there are probably going to be two more stories. I'm going to put up the first chapter of my next story which primarily deals with Maya and Fred Weasley II. It's going to be called Butterflies And Hurricanes. I'll put up one chapter every day if I feel like people like it. I tend to get a little disheartened if I don't get any reviews. I also started writing another Sirius/OC story based on Pride And Prejudice so if that's your cup of tea please go check it out. **

**Anyway I wanted to thank all my reviewers especially Stromsen, duckiexx, Pebbles872 and so many others. **

**Much love**  
**LifeOnTheMoon**

**PS:I sorta wanted at least fifty reviews for this story so if you can get me to that number I'll love you for life :) **


End file.
